Abstract and Keywords
Police social workers are professionally trained social workers or individuals with related academic degrees employed within police departments or social service agencies who receive referrals primarily from police officers. Their primary functions are to provide direct services such as crisis counseling and mediation to individuals and families experiencing social problems such as mental illness, alcohol and substance use and abuse, domestic violence, and child abuse, among others. Additional functions of police social workers include training police officers in stress management, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, and child abuse; providing consultation to police officers; and counseling police officers and their families.
Keywords: police social work, criminal justice, crisis intervention, law enforcement
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