Just back on this quickly, I know I said that Police aren't social workers but it's easy to forget that elements of the role, pretty much are social services.pietillidie wrote: One approach might be to break the dichotomous symbolism that chokes this discussion. E.g., the police and social services could be brought under a broader scheme that gets to the notion of social opportunity and betterment, confounding this silly argument once and for all. Police definitely need to be more mainstreamed so they tend less weirdo cult (so the military), but I thought this was happening. Perhaps the UK is further ahead on this front?
They don't just beat up protesters and junkies, think of how many times they will get called out as first responders to a Family Violence incident, or sexual assault or a multitde of other instances where they have a victim in need of empathy and support. Until they can get the person to an appropriate health professional, they're the ones who have to do that
They don't send Social Workers around to Mum and Dad's house to tell them their teenage son just crashed his car into a tree and won't be coming home again, they send the Police. What a cnut of a job that would be.
I meant to ask earlier, why do you think the UK needs to increase Police numbers?