Call the police

I've blogged about the "call the cops" culture we seem to live in on prior occasions. Not all the examples are humorous. A troubling one has been gathering a lot of ink both locally and nationally of late. Nebraska's unique Safe Haven law has resulted in the predictable: some exasperated parents at their wits end are just leaving their non-infant and/or teenaged children at hospitals. The police, in turn, are called upon to take the child into temporary emergency custody, and make arrangements for a placement.

That is our job by law, and we accept it. Taking steps to protect children when no one else is around to do so is about as fundamental to our mission as you can get. It's the "no one else around" part that bothers me a little bit. I can't help but wonder whether a couple of hours down at HQ followed by a trip in the back seat of the patrol car is the best we can do.

I empathize with parents who feel so incapable of caring for a child that they would choose this route. I don't think you can generalize about them, because each situation differs. You can hardly fault someone who, seeing no other alternative, takes the short-cut to services or professional intervention that the law provides. I am rather amazed that legislators who drafted and passed this law are now so surprised at this result. Apparently they were unaware of the number of parents who are desperate. We weren't. Those of us in policing saw it coming well before the effective date. I'm surprised there haven't been more kids left at hospitals.

Last Thursday, Lincoln Journal Star reporter JoAnne Young emailed me. She said that the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services was suggesting that parents at the end of their rope call the police. She wanted to know what I thought of that. My reply was a bit longer, but I think this excerpt from her article is an accurate, if sanitized, summary:

Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady said officers would provide enforcement and protection of either a child or parent as needed, and could take a child into protective emergency custody and call HHS for placement. But expecting the police to help parents cope with such problems as mental illness, financial stress, lack of resources, family dissolution, addiction or poor parenting skills “is a bit out of our league,” he said. “Calling the cops” is not the best contingency plan for serving families in crisis, Casady said.

We increasingly rely on the police to handle all manner of individual and societal ills. The Lincoln police department exists to provide the services that promote a safe and secure community, but it's a stretch when we are expected to be the solution for groups homes that are inadequately staffed, schools who are not properly prepared to handle children with serious behavioral issues, a mental health system that is woefully inadequate to meet the need, and a child protection system that has no field personnel after 5:00 PM.

These are complex issues that lack easy solutions. Our expertise lies in problems of crime and disorder, and protecting people and property through prevention activities and in emergency situations. We are ill-equipped to be the default response for every intractable social and personal problem.

We are called upon to provide services that are clearly more appropriate for others because we are here: in a moment of crisis, trained professionals will reliably answer the call and will actually send a caring, committed adult to the scene to do what he or she can to help--no matter how unpleasant or disconcerting the circumstances. You cannot count on that from every organization that has "helping families" in their mission statement. Voice mail, telephone answering services, and a cumbersome on-call system are more the order of the day. Not necessarily their fault: it takes money and commitment to make emergency services available around the clock.