This year marks the second anniversary of the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.

The former police officer responded to a call that a customer was suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy a pack of cigarettes at a convenience store. Chauvin subdued George Floyd and although he was lying prone and handcuffed in the street, Chauvin put his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck and kept it there for nine minutes despite Floyd’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd died.

Because the incident was caught by the steady hand of a teenage videographer, Darnella Frazier, it was relived on a viral loop that led to millions of views and international mass protests against police brutality.

Chauvin became the first white Minnesota police officer to be convicted of murdering a Black person.

And with that, our system that allows the use of lethal force with impunity, especially against Black men, seemed to have been dealt a blow.

America has always given the power to kill randomly and with impunity to some. But it is impossible to build a just society when that same society supports terror. Between 2013 and 2021, domestic terrorism incidents increased by 357 percent and a little more than one-third were racially or ethnically motivated.

The only goal of terror is to increase the powerlessness of a targeted group. The Chauvin verdict came was a hopeful sign of system change.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the acquittal of George Zimmerman. 

He was the volunteer night watchman for a gated community in Florida that assumed the boy he saw walking in the rain with his hoodie up was the criminal responsible for a rash of burglaries in the complex.

Zimmerman, who was armed, followed Trayvon Martin. Martin, who was unnerved by the stranger, started to run. Zimmerman pursued and the two got into a fistfight. Zimmerman, who shot and killed Martin, claimed self-defense and was eventually found not guilty.

Mass protests erupted upon hearing the verdict.

Outraged protestors especially targeted Florida’s draconian Stand Your Ground laws which moved the use of lethal force from the police into the civilian realm.

Dubbed the “shoot first, ask questions later” law, it allowed for people to use lethal force even if they could retreat.  The Southern Poverty Law Center, which said 27 states now have some version of the Stand Your Ground law, has argued these laws “disproportionately justify the use of violence by people who are white and male against people who are not.”

The most significant predictor of whether police will use excessive force is not his fear but the suspect’s behavior. If it is noncompliant, such as physical aggression or resisting arrest, it increases the likelihood deadly force will be employed.

About a month ago, Daniel Penny, a former U.S. Marine, was arrested for the death of Jordan Neely on a New York subway car.  Neely, a homeless mentally ill man, was acting aggressively towards others in the car and Penny put him in a fatal chokehold to protect himself and other passengers according to his attorney. Neely died as a result.

Predictably, protests have erupted across New York.

What’s different since the Chauvin conviction is the extent to which Penny — at first– had been hailed a hero. Fund raising for his defense fund totals almost $3 million.  Florida governor Ron DeSantis of Florida compared Penny to the Good Samaritan. Nikki Haley, a 2024 presidential candidate, stated that the Governor of New York should pardon Penny.    

A year ago, when Derek Chauvin received additional federal charges, Judge Paul Magnuson of U.S. District Court in St. Paul said, “I really don’t know why you did what you did, but to put your knee on another person’s neck until they expired is simply wrong, and for that conduct you must be substantially punished.”

Justice clearly is no longer turning a blind eye to cases like these. On June 14, Penny, who faces manslaughter charges for putting Neely in that fatal chokehold was indicted by a grand jury. If he is convicted, he will spend years in prison.

About the Author

Chad Dion Lassiter is a nationally recognized expert in race relations. He has worked on race, peace, and poverty-related issues in the United States, Africa, Canada, Haiti, Israel, and Norway, and is frequently featured in the media providing commentary and solutions to racial issues. Lassiter is currently executive director of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, where he has legislatively delegated authority to investigate filed complaints alleging the occurrence of unlawful discrimination in the areas of employment, housing and commercial property, education, and/or regarding public accommodations.

Although our system has repeatedly allowed the use of lethal force with impunity, especially against Black men, things are changing with the arrest of the latest perpetrator Jordan Neely.

Disclaimer: The National Association of Social Workers invites members to share their expertise and experiences through Member Voices. This blog was prepared by Chad Dion Lassiter in his personal capacity and does not necessarily reflect the view of the National Association of Social Workers.

Researchers published their findings on this topic in a recent issue of the journal Social Work Research, which is co-published by NASW and Oxford University Press, in an article titled Prevalence and Correlates of Police Contact Anxiety among Male and Female Black Emerging Adults in St. Louis, Missouri.

The researchers studied the prevalence and severity of anxiety in the study participants, broken down along lines of male vs. female, income, and seeing a video vs. directly witnessing or being a victim of police contact or police violence. They found higher levels of anxiety among males, among those experiencing police violence, and among those witnessing community violence. Work and income were also factors in anxiety levels reported to researchers.

Authors called for more research in this area. Also, they recommend that social workers working with Black young adults be aware of possible anxiety related to police contact in this population.

Study authors:

• Robert O. Motley, Jr., PhD, assistant professor, School of Social Work, Boston College
• Yu-Chih Chen, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Social Work & Social Administration, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
• Yasir Masood, MD, graduate research assistant, Race & Opportunity Lab
• Alyssa Finner, MSW, community engagement coordinator, Race & Opportunity Lab
• Sean Joe, PhD, professor, Center for Social Development, Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis

NASW journals are co-published by NASW Press and Oxford University Press. The journal Social Work is a benefit of NASW membership. It is available online or, at a member’s request, in print. Children & Schools, Health & Social Work and Social Work Research are available by subscription at a discounted rate for NASW members.

Learn the journals and subscriptions at NASW Press.

The widely televised tape of Tyre Nichols being mercilessly beaten by members of the Memphis Police Department was shocking beyond words. Similar to the murder of George Floyd, the country (indeed the world) was again a witness to total disregard for the life of young black man by law enforcement.

The brutal killing of Mr. Nichols is a stark reality that the promise of police reform in the wake of George Floyd’s death was at best a fleeting notion —and at worse —an empty promise. In any event, it is evident that lethal of police encounters with young men of color is as problematic as ever.

As is known, all the Memphis police officers charged with the second-degree murder of Mr. Nichols are Black. Sadly, this tragedy inadvertently shattered the myth that racial diversity ꟷ especially where hiring Black police officers is concerned ꟷ would lead to reducing the use excessive and lethal violence against young men of color. That surely has not happened.

The fallacy is the assumption that Black police officers ꟷ or those from other communities of colorꟷ are less likely to use excessive force, during encounters with Black people, than their White counterparts. The truth is that police officers of color often identify with existing police culture. In reality, many Black law enforcement officers are imbued with the same anti-black bias as are some White officers.

 Also, there are those who suggest the fact that the accused police are all Black negates racism as the driving factor in the use of excessive force against Blacks. Nothing can be further from the truth. There is ample evidence that police brutality, more often than not, stems from structural racism that disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous and other people of color.

Thus, as we all grieve over the murder of Mr. Nichols, we continue to be at a loss over how to bring an end to police violence against people of color. Clearly diversity ꟷ while important ꟷ is not in itself the solution. A more critical priority is not to lose sight of the fact that the culture of racism in law enforcement is real and must be eliminated.

A second priority is that President Biden and a bipartisan Congress must ꟷ at long last ꟷ pass comprehensive police reform legislation. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act is a good starting point.  

There are two provisions that warrant mentioning here. They are:

1. Ending  qualified immunity that shields law enforcement from being charged with civil rights violations during arrests; and
2. Creating a nationwide police misconduct registry to help hold problematic officers accountable. Both provisions are essential for police accountability. Now is the time ꟷ as a tribute to Tyre Nichols ꟷ to put aside petty partisan differences and pass a strong policing reform bill.

Equally as important, there must be a recognition that Mr. Nichols’s murder is not just a concern for Black America. His death is a continuation of a national tragedy that has existed for centuries. The nation has to form a consensus that excessive force, against any citizen, is unambiguously a human rights violation.

Disclaimer: The National Association of Social Workers invites members to share their expertise and experiences through Member Voices. This blog was prepared by Mel Wilson in his personal capacity and does not necessarily reflect the view of the National Association of Social Workers.

About the Author

Mel Wilson, LCSW, MBA, is the retired Senior Policy Advisor for the National Association of Social Workers. He continues to be active on a range social policy area including youth justice, immigration, criminal justice, and drug policy. He is a co-chairperson on the Justice Roundtable’s Drug Policy Reform Working Group.

Photo of George Floyd mural and memorial by mana5280 on Unsplash

Like millions of Americans, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) was relieved with the guilty verdict imposed by the Minnesota jury upon Officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.  Although the verdict was just, it cannot restore Mr. Floyd’s life, nor can this verdict fill the void that will remain forever in the lives of his family and the broader community.

Without a doubt, this is a historically important result, but in the context of deaths of so many unarmed Black and Brown men and women at the hands of police, this conviction almost stands alone in terms of holding police accountable for committing similar or worse acts of violence. While we are justified for breathing a sigh of relief at the verdict, we must not lose sight of the ultimate goal ― the need to reimagine law enforcement and other components of the public safety paradigm that perpetuate systemic racism.

With that in mind, NASW and the broader social work community support the call for a complete and comprehensive investigation ―led by the Department of Justice ―to identify the root causes of persistent patterns of use of excessive force by law enforcement officers against communities of color. Such an official action will send a clear signal to the public that ending this pattern of abuse will not be tolerated. It will also demonstrate that ending the culture of disregard for the lives of Black and Brown people is a high priority for Congress and the White House.

As a gesture to the tragic injustice visited upon Mr. Floyd and the many other victims of police abuse, it is an imperative that the Senate must pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. While this legislation does not address all the necessary police reforms that criminal legal reform advocates deem necessary, it is certainly a good start.

Because we have chapters in every state, NASW is well aware that law enforcement is primarily a state and local function. Therefore, NASW and other national organizations with a state presence must commit to doing the hard work of collaborating on fighting for police reforms at the state and local level. The fact is that unless federal, state, and local criminal legal systems work together to promote and embrace innovative law enforcement solutions and reforms, incidents of lethal excessive force will continue to occur.

We cannot let George Floyd’s death be in vain. We must not allow ourselves to celebrate the verdict but fail to fully commit our passion for justice and our resources to ending systemic racism in our criminal legal system.

Related Resources:

NASW Social Justice Brief – Reimagining Policing: Strategies for Community Reinvestment

NASW Social Justice Brief – Abolishing Cash Bail to Promote Social Justice

NASW Social Justice Brief – The Role of Racial Profiling in Encounters with Law Enforcement

Police in Rochester, NY on Jan. 30 used pepper spray and handcuffs to subdue a nine-year-old girl. The incident leading up to this police encounter is reported to have been related to an emergency crisis call from the girl’s parents for exhibiting threatening and suicidal ideation behaviors.

There is no indication the child had a weapon or placed the police in danger of death or injury. The pepper spray and handcuffs were reportedly used to manage her highly agitated state of mind.  The city’s police officials indicated that the officers were within Rochester’s use of force protocols. However, NASW agrees with the cries of outrage that the Rochester community expressed over how the child’s mental health crisis was handled.

This is especially true, given that the city recently launched a Person in Crisis Team (PIC), which was created as Rochester’s response to reimagining its  Office of Crisis Intervention Services. PIC teams, staffed by social workers, were formed to divert away mental health crisis responses from the city’s police department. The PIC teams recently became operational but for some reason  were not summoned for the crisis call concerning this child.

This horrible incident reinforces the need for national use of force standards that prohibit the use of “irritants” such as pepper spray and handcuff restraints on children (allowing for rare exceptions).  In addition, the incident demonstrates the importance of reimaging emergency response systems associated with mental health and suicide crisis. That the City of Rochester created the PIC teams is a positive action. It is our hope that this diversion program becomes an integral part of their public safety system. Perhaps, cases such as that of this young girl can be avoided.

Related NASW Resources:

Reimaging Policing: Strategies for Community Reinvestment

Social workers have roles in community policing efforts

Two recent incidents of apparent police misconduct have received national attention that NASW finds to be deeply problematic.

The first incident is related to the police shooting of 24-year-old Casey Goodson Jr., a Black man from Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Goodson, who was unarmed, was shot to death by police in his grandmother’s home—in front of her and two toddlers. Though police claim he was armed and warned him to drop a weapon, his grandmother said he had only a sandwich. No weapon was found on or near his body.

Not only is there no information on why Mr. Goodson was stopped in the first place, footage of the incident is unavailable because cameras aren’t used in that jurisdiction. U.S. Marshalls, who were searching for a fugitive in the area, have made it clear Mr. Goodson was not a subject of the search.

This case is under investigation by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

The second case of police misconduct was also appalling. It involved the February 2019 mistaken arrest of Anjanette Young, a Black licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) from Chicago. Police wrongfully invaded Ms. Young’s home to exercise an arrest warrant while Ms. Young was disrobed. Although she repeatedly informed the police they had the wrong address, she was unlawfully detained without clothing—in front of male police officers. Once it was confirmed they had the wrong address and she was released, Ms. Young filed a complaint. However, the Chicago Police refused to release the body-camera recording until forced to do so by the courts. Once released, the recording fully corroborated Ms. Young’s account of the inappropriate and demeaning treatment. The Mayor of Chicago personally apologized to her on December 17, 2020.

Social Worker Anjanette Young

Both incidents graphically remind us that the battle to end systemic racism in law enforcement still has a long way to go. The tragedy in the death of Mr. Goodson — and the abhorrent treatment of Ms. Young—reinforces the urgency of ending racial profiling, having national standards for use of force by police, and developing national standards that severely curtails the use of no-knock warrants.

Lastly, we must have national laws requiring body and dashboard cameras be active during all police encounters—jurisdictions must also be required to make the recording immediately available when an arrest is challenged by the arrestee.

Again, NASW strongly condemns the tactics and bureaucratic obstructions used in Ms. Young’s case.We also demand that the State of Ohio fully and fairly investigates the shooting death of Mr. Goodson, which we also denounced, and issues a comprehensive report on the circumstances of his killing at the hands of police.

As Americans, we can respect the office of the Presidency while being critical the man who currently holds that position. We have seen the growth of detention camps; we have seen deportation of immigrants; we have seen the ruin of Tribal sacred land; we have seen the reversal of policy developed to protect the LGBTQ community.

We continue to witness the brutal murder of Black men and women through police brutality. Although it is not the actions of all police, it is systemic through the criminal justice system. We must stop the systemic racism that plagues our country. We cannot sit idly by.

We must never forget the lives of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor,  Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Jamar Clark, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Stephon Clark, Atatiana Jefferson, Jonathan Ferrell, Renisha McBride, Jordan Edwards, Trayvon Martin…  the list goes on and on and highlights a frightening pattern. The list will continue to grow unless we do something and do it now.

We must commit to stop the murder of Black men and women. Each of us as social workers must make a commitment to do all we can to bring about change that will end systemic racism and innocent death.

Our profession of social work was founded on the principles of social justice. As social workers, we cannot sit idly by. Many of us have lived through the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s (and I fear we are seeing the undoing of progress that was made). We were alive during the Stonewall uprising. We demonstrated during the Women’s Movement. We know how to bring about change. We must support the peaceful protests and join hands with the protesters, and join in spirit with the protests that are occurring.

The social work profession is comprised mostly of white women. White women know both the fight to gain equality and the meaning of sexism/inequality. We must bring this unique knowledge to the table in every community and work with our hearts and our knowledge to end systemic racism. We must also understand the impact of our white privilege on the continued racism and continued to understand and work on our own biases.

One clear recent example of this privilege was the white woman in the New York City park who contacted the police about a Black man who was “attacking” her, when in reality he was just out bird-watching. This is a prime example of internal racism and bias that she has not addressed… and her response is a prime example of white privilege.

We as mental health providers must examine our own racist actions, beliefs and attitudes. Unlike those who may turn their face away from what is happening in our society, social workers must look at the eye of the storm and work tirelessly to end the racism that lies within us and within the places where we work, live, play, and worship.

So how do we do this work that is so critical and goes far beyond the education we received in schools of social work? We start by doing our own work.

I believe that we are all racist, and the minute we say “I am not a racist” is the time we stop doing the work that we must do. It begins by awareness of stereotypes we hold and our beliefs that must be questioned. It includes intense introspection each time we stumble across our own racist behaviors and thoughts. I am aware that each time I cross the street to avoid passing closely by a group of adolescent Black teenagers I am operating on my own racist beliefs and I must stop and question it and commit to understanding the origin… and undoing that component of my own racism. We each must recognize the seeds of racism that exist within us. It is time to understand white privilege and how it prevents us from truly seeing what is happening.

This is also an important time for us to become involved. We must be an active part of our communities and consider running for local offices. We must work with like-minded groups to identify systemic racism and develop policies to change it. We need to advocate in universities and colleges for education in police programs that teach about racism and provide tools for police to undo racism and implicit bias. We must work to pass legislation that supports the changes we know are so critical.  We must stop voter suppression and assure that everyone has a fair and equal right to vote. We must work with schools of social work to assure that social work students are learning in classrooms and field placements to undo racism that they encounter and that students learn to lead in areas of social justice. We must have crucial conversations.

We as social workers are part of a profession grounded in the values of social justice and civil rights. This is a time to bring our professional and personal selves to the table and say, “NO MORE”.

Thank you for the work you do and the work you will continue to do to end systemic and personal racism.

Maxine Thome, PhD, LMSW, ACSW, MPH
Executive Director, NASW-Michigan

About Social Work Responds

The Association of Social Work Boards, the Council on Social Work Education, and the National Association of Social Workers are committed to collaborating on the range of issues affecting the social work profession and the people and communities we serve in this ever-changing and unsettling environment created by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

Follow Up 

Based on previous Social Work Responds emails and calls to action, our organizations want to share critical follow up information.

• The CSWE Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) are updated every 7 years, and work has already begun on updating standards for 2022. We are calling on CSWE’s members, educators, social workers, and others to help us provide EPAS, resources, and guidance that support our profession’s ideals.  We must take this moment to honestly examine how social work curriculums go beyond teaching an appreciation for physical or cultural diversity and empower the next generation of social work practitioners to dismantle institutional racism.
• ASWB: As of June 5, exam candidates may once again register for the exams online, purchase online practice tests, and access other online services at ASWB.org.

Two Pandemics

Since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May, daily protests have taken place around the world as people express their shared grief and outrage at the growing number of unarmed African Americans who have died recently at the hands of police.

These recent wounds have opened up deep societal scars as we are in the middle of two pandemics that disproportionately affect communities of color. COVID-19 has claimed more than 100,000 American lives, and unequal access to quality medical care has contributed to the incredibly disproportionate impact of COVID-19 among traditionally underserved Black and Brown populations. The other pandemic – institutional racism – has been responsible, in some way or another, for untold fatalities for more than 400 years.

There is no end to the cacophony of content, information, opinions, and images coming at us from news and social media. Faced with these two pandemics, each requiring urgent attention and action, social workers may find it difficult to know what to do first. We would like to offer a focal point for social work students, practitioners, educators, regulators, and others.

Social workers challenge social injustice. It’s right there in our Code of Ethics: social workers have a professional and moral obligation to address and end racism. We are not able to be neutral.

Social justice and nondiscrimination also infuse professional regulation. Codes of conduct protect the public and strengthen the code of ethics by transforming aspirational goals to specific, legally enforceable obligations. Licensed social workers may not discriminate, or they risk loss of their license and the ability to practice. The code of conduct’s nondiscrimination clause in ASWB’s model law clearly states: “A social worker shall not discriminate against a client, student, or supervisee on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, color, national origin, religion, diagnosis, disability, political affiliation, or social or economic status.”

Preparing to practice anti-oppressive social work begins in our social work classrooms. The more than 800 accredited baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs of social work educate students about promoting diversity and inclusion in practice, and advancing human rights and social justice. They learn the forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination and recognize how society’s institutions and structures can marginalize and alienate, or create privilege and power. They also learn how to take action to eliminate oppressive structural barriers, ensuring that all human rights are protected.

Whether social workers join the ranks of community agencies, schools, hospitals, and other interdisciplinary workplaces, or are in independent private practice, they provide services to clients of every socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural background.  To ensure that they are meeting clients where they are, social workers constantly must evaluate their own biases and assumptions about other people’s experiences, their strengths and the diverse cultures that sustain them.  And if our workplaces do not offer an equally respectful environment for staff and clients, it is our duty to lead efforts that meet new standards of practice excellence.  Ongoing personal and professional development in anti-racist behavior, cultural humility, and understanding must be a priority.

Much work remains to be done to end racism. Social workers are up to the challenge.

“With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”

– Martin Luther King Jr. “The Other America.” March 14, 1968

RESOURCES

Center on Race and Social Problems (CRSP) at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. CRSP was founded by  Larry E. Davis, PhD, LCSW, and conducts applied, community-based research in race and ethnicity from a social work perspective and offers a variety of resources and programs.

Achieving Racial Equity: Calling the Social Work Profession to Action (NASW Social Work Policy Institute, May 2014). This report summarizes the recommendations of the Social Work Policy Institute’s symposium.

“Institutional Racism and the Social Work Profession: A Call to Action.”  (NASW, 2007). Work has begun on a revised toolkit and a series of forums as part of NASW’s social action agenda.

“Putting Social Work Values to the Test — ASWB’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” by  ASWB Examination Development Director Lavina Harless, LCSW, appears in the May/June issue of Social Work Today.

***

Related Posts

February 2: Time for New Outreach to Social Workers

October 29: We Want to Hear from You!

July 30: Reopening Ahead of a Fourth Wave

April 30: Suppressing Voter Suppression

February 26: Essential and Valued

January 29: A Vaccine Is Not a Cure

December 1: Election 2020: Wins All Around!

October 16: How do you eat an elephant…?

October 9 – Creating an Inclusive Economy

September 25 – We ‘have a way to go’ to achieve racial equity in social work

September 11 – Social Work and School Reopening

August 24 – Each One Register One

August 7 – Ensuring All Levels of Self-Care

July 24 – Will the Pandemic Cause Mental Trauma?

July 10 – Interprofessional Health Care Model Responds to Both Pandemics

June 19 – This Is Who We Are

May 15 – Let’s Call It What It Is…Telesocialwork

April 30 – What’s the Meaning of This?

April 24 – Social Worker COVID-19 Survey

April 17 – COVID-19 and Social Justice

April 10 – Reinforcing the Essential Nature of Social Work

April 3 – Balancing “Essential” with Safe and Ethical

March 27 – COVID-19 Telehealth: Providing Mental Health Support Safely, Ethically and Competently

March 20 – Social Work in this Unprecedented Time

A 15-year-old girl with autism spectrum disorder became lost in Naperville, Ill., in July. Her parents had been working with her, and she had successfully been going outside alone, walking up and down the block where she lives. She had done well with that and wanted to walk around the block by herself.

Horner

She either took a wrong turn or walked farther than she had planned, but she did not come back, and a missing-child call came in to the Naperville Police Department, said Police Social Worker Jamie Horner, MSW, LCSW, CADC, one of two police social workers in the department’s social services unit.
Almost the entire group of officers and detectives responded, Horner said. While the girl’s father stayed at home, her mother drove around looking for her. Some of the officers went to the home, and the others — working with the dispatch center — searched on foot and drove around in cars and on ATVs as they all sought to find her.
“My sergeant said ‘I’m going to go look for her,’” Horner said. “I wanted to help, so I started texting him on how to react to someone with autism: Do this, don’t do that. You need a much different response to a person with autism. Even getting her into a car could be a challenge. Minutes later, I heard over the radio that his unit had found her.”
When the sergeant returned to the station, Horner congratulated him and said he had done a great job directing someone with autism. He said her directions really helped him and she made him realize he had to step back and look at the whole picture.
“That was a really neat thing to hear from him,” Horner said. “It’s exciting when something positive happens from something so scary. That was a really, really good day.”
Social workers like Horner are filling an important role, whether they work as police department social workers as part of community policing efforts or operate independently but work in conjunction with officers as they treat young victims and witnesses of abuse and violence.

From the October 2016 NASW News. Read the full story here.

Terence Crutcher

In what seems to be an unending national dilemma, the country is again grappling with the shooting deaths of black men during encounters with law enforcement officers.

In Tulsa, Okla. police approached a vehicle in a traffic stop-related encounter with Terence Crutcher, 40. The officers were initially responding to a report of a stalled vehicle.

Crutcher, who was unarmed and not resisting, was shot with a stun gun by one officer and shot with a pistol by a second officer. The gunshot wound was the cause of his death. The officer who fired the fatal shot – Betty Jo Shelby – has been charged with first degree manslaughter.

Keith Lamont Scott, 43, an African American man from Charlotte, NC, also suffered fatal gunshot wounds by a policeman. The circumstances and justification for this shooting is ambiguous.

Keith Scott

Scott was approached by police while they were seeking an arrest of another man on outstanding warrants. The Charlotte Police Department has released some video of the incident but the results are inconclusive with police saying Crutcher was armed while others say he was not threatening officers with a weapon when he was shot.

Further complicating matters is the fact Scott suffered from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and had taken medication just prior to the shooting.

The incidents involving Scott and Crutcher rekindled a national outcry and debate about racial disparities in the use of lethal force by police.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) recognizes and embraces the crucial, necessary, and dangerous role that law enforcement officers play in maintaining public safety for all segments of our society. The association also recognizes that our society cannot ignore compelling evidence that men of color, especially black men, are more likely to be killed during a use-of-force encounter with police than other racial or ethnic groups.

Respecting the role of police in maintaining public safety and eliminating racial disparities in in pursuit of public safety are not mutually exclusive. With that in mind, NASW makes the following recommendations in light of these recent events:

• There is an urgent need for national standards for use of force by law enforcement agencies. There are literally thousands of separate police and sheriff departments, state police, and federal law enforcement agencies in the United States. These agencies have the legal right to use force up to and including lethal force. Yet, there are no national uniform standards, protocols or training modules for using such force.
• Law enforcement officers are far too often put into situations where they have to use de-escalation techniques with persons who are mentally disabled. It is essential that all law enforcement agencies, no matter how small, require officers receive certifications on de-escalation techniques where there are indications that the person they are encountering has a mental health or cognitive disability.
• Transparency on the part of law enforcement agencies and all levels of government related to use of force cases is critical. In cases where lethal force is used, all video and audio recording from police body cameras and dashboard cameras must be made public as soon as reasonably possible. Additionally, there must be a national standard and requirement that all law enforcement agencies (regardless of the size of the jurisdiction) collect data on all use-of-force cases that result in bodily injury or death. The data must be disaggregated for race/ethnicity, gender identity and age.
• NASW recommends the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) adheres to the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 (DICRA) as intended by Congress. DICRA was enacted to ensure the accuracy of federal statistics on deaths that occur in the course of arrest or while the decedent is in custody, including in jails, prisons and juvenile facilities. The goal of the law is to understand the prevalence and causes of deaths in custody and to use this information to reduce the incidence of such deaths. NASW is a signatory of a letter sent to DOJ by the national Law Enforcement Working Group that requested that DOJ adhere to the data collection intent of Congress.