Because of the determination and vision of two strong, empowered women, Social Work interns Ms. Ciera Payne and Ms. Angela (Angie) Nickum were able to accept an exciting new challenge in their field placement during the pandemic year of 2020-2021, as social workers embedded with the Wilkinsburg Police Department. Dr. Emma Lucas-Darby of Pitt’s School of Social Work and Police Chief Ophelia Coleman first met at a Police & Community Summer Institute held at the Center on Race and Social Problems in 2018. Both had seen, from their different vantage points of social work and law enforcement, that often calls to police represent the culmination of issues that police cannot address; poverty, substance abuse, family violence, mental health.
According to research provided by Ms. Payne, between January and April of 2021, 14.5% of calls to the Wilkinsburg PD involved families, domestic issues, juvenile issues, substance abuse and mental health. Lucas-Darby’s passion for community and social justice found the perfect partner in Chief Coleman, who on her second day as Chief, told an interviewer: “I consider myself a community activist who cares deeply about people.” Based on her 26 years as a Pittsburgh Police Officer, Chief Coleman is also clear on the role of the police in maintaining public safety, so that the economy can thrive, benefiting all residents.
Chief Coleman explains that police culture is typically a very high testosterone, action-oriented culture, which draws “A lot of Type A personalities. 911 calls come in every day, every second. Every call is different and so you never know what to expect, meaning that officers tend to operate on heightened alert, not in the frame of mind to sit back, exhale and consider the situation. And even if they did, the police are not trained to know how to assess mental health conditions, to know who to call or what to do.”
Social work interns do know who to call and what to do. Even prior to enrolling the social work program at Pitt, both Angie and Ciera had strong backgrounds with years of work experience in counseling psychology, psychiatric care, and clinical care. The Pitt Social Work master’s program strongly emphasizes evidence informed social work practice, cultural competence, working with diverse populations and commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all persons.
Under Chief Coleman’s leadership, the Wilkinsburg PD has become a solid base from which to enhance the mission of the police, by, as Chief Coleman says: “Closing the gap between what is police business and what is social work business.”
The internship experience was designed with care and thought; both Lucas-Darby and Coleman focused on the safety of the interns, ensuring they had a strong mentor in the Department, Officer William Coffee, who, as Lucas-Darby notes, “Well understands the social component of police work.” Officer Coffee undertakes several roles in the department including being an ambassador to schools, to encourage school children to see the police as friends and allies, not authoritarian “kill-joys.” Coffee oversaw the training of the interns in police protocol and safety procedures, from how to wear a bullet-proof vest to ensuring they had office space, laptops and cellphones.
Chief Coleman made it clear to her officers that the goal of this internship was not that it would be a “one-off” but rather, she hopes, the beginning of long-term program. As Officer Yuhouse of the Wilkinsburg PD remarked in a recent interview: “Having the social worker along on calls means that a burden is lifted off the regular patrol guy, who can’t take the time to do what social workers do when situations arise in part because of social issues, mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence.” In short, Yuhouse concluded: “It makes the job easier for us.”
Both Angie and Ciera emphasized that they felt very safe, accepted and protected by the officers. Even in very dangerous, volatile situations. Angie described one day when she reported for duty:
“I arrived at around 9 am and there was a big commotion going on. The Chief came in and said she needed my assistance. The worst of calls – a murder had happened in the community. A young child under 8 years old was at the scene and had witnessed one of the most horrible events any of us can imagine. Because the officers’ primary duty is to preserve and gather evidence, nobody was able to prioritize the child, who was standing alone in the front yard, now a chaotic crime scene. Typically, the children, youth and families’ division of human services would dispatch somebody, but because of the Covid-19 lockdown and protocol, nobody was available.”
Angie went straight to the scene and with the commanding officer’s permission took the child – now, in social work protocol, her client - to McDonalds for breakfast and then to Children’s Hospital for evaluation and to arrange follow up care; during the hours of waiting, they played games on the computer and Angie made sure to arrange for ongoing specialized trauma & violence counseling for her client. As Angie says “As a social worker, I was able to prioritize my client’s needs which were different from that of law enforcement on that day. I stayed, to ensure that my client had a steady, reassuring presence to rely on.”
Chief Coleman praised both Angie and Ciera for their incredible devotion and dedication to the clients that came their way in the course of the internship. Other memorable cases included working with a family whose adolescent son had turned violent and then suicidal; Ciera stayed in the volatile situation for hours, implementing her training and skills to separate the arguing and angry family members, arranging for a weekend’s stay at the Resolve Crisis Center, enlisting the help of a supportive neighbor, and arranging for follow-up care including psychiatric care and helping the young man apply and be accepted through job corps for training.
Ciera notes that in this situation as it developed in the family home that day, the police stayed with her to ensure safety for everyone, and that this was a near-perfect example of how well the police-social work collaboration can work. It’s likely that without Ciera, that young man and other members of the family could have ended up in jail or worse, and the underlying problems would have remained unresolved, ready to become another 911 call where the police response could not provide anything other than a temporary solution.
A safe society is a functional society, and both social workers and police have clear yet very different roles to play to ensuring that safety. As Dr. Lucas-Darby and Chief Coleman have seen, based on their years of experience in social work and law enforcement respectively, professionals in both fields have much to offer each other in the way of support and collaboration. And that will surely benefit everyone in the long run.