Replacing Police with Social Workers: What the Evidence Shows
Replacing police with social workers in certain crisis situations has shown real promise. Programs like CAHOOTS in Eugene, Oregon and Denver’s STAR program have handled thousands of calls without police, reducing unnecessary escalation. But social workers aren’t a complete substitute for law enforcement. They work best through co-responder or alternative responder models designed for non-violent situations.
When police in Salt Lake City responded to a 13-year-old autistic boy who was acting out, they shot him in the back as he ran away. He was unarmed. A trained autism specialist at that call may have changed the outcome. This raises questions about how different responses might affect outcomes in situations like this one.
A Different Kind of First Responder
The argument for putting social workers on the front lines isn’t new. Law enforcement has long absorbed calls that have nothing to do with crime: mental health crises, domestic disputes, people experiencing homelessness, and substance use emergencies. By some estimates, around 10 percent of 911 calls involve a person with a mental illness. Police departments have been handling these situations with tools and training often built for different types of situations.
The murder of George Floyd in 2020 pushed the conversation into the mainstream. The United States spends roughly twice as much on law and order as on cash welfare, according to a Washington Post analysis, and calls to defund the police brought new urgency to a question human services workers had been asking for years: what if someone else showed up instead?
The Programs That Prove It Works
Eugene, Oregon’s CAHOOTS program (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) has been running since 1989. It dispatches a medic and a crisis worker to calls involving mental health crises, homelessness, and substance use. No officers. The team arrives in a van stocked with medical supplies and blankets. CAHOOTS handles a significant share of 911 calls in Eugene (often cited at around 20%) at a cost of about $2.1 million per year, a small fraction of the combined Eugene and Springfield police budget. According to KVAL, the program handled more than 24,000 calls for service in 2018 alone.
Denver launched its own version in 2020: the Support Team Assisted Response, or STAR. A Stanford University study found STAR reduced low-level crime in the areas it served. The cost difference is significant, with roughly $150 per STAR response compared to nearly $650 when Denver police handled the same type of call. New York City’s B-HEARD program (Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division) dispatches EMTs and mental health professionals to behavioral health crises, with early results showing people are more likely to accept help when non-police professionals respond.
As of recent reporting, more than 100 alternative crisis response units are operating across the United States, with programs in many large U.S. cities.
Co-Responders vs. Alternative Responders: Two Models
Not all of these programs work the same way. Co-responder programs pair a behavioral health specialist with a police officer on the same call. The officer manages any safety concerns while the clinician handles the mental health component. Alternative responder programs go a step further: no police at all. Social workers or crisis workers respond independently to calls assessed as low-risk.
Each model has trade-offs. Co-responder programs are easier to launch because they build on existing law enforcement infrastructure. But some social workers and advocates argue that a police presence undermines trust with the people these programs are meant to serve. Alternative responder programs take longer to build but can develop deeper community relationships. People in crisis are more likely to engage when they know a warrant check isn’t coming.
The federal government added a related resource in July 2022: the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a three-digit number that connects callers to trained counselors rather than police dispatch. It doesn’t replace in-person response, but it’s part of the same shift toward routing mental health calls away from law enforcement.
Where Social Services Can’t Replace Police
There is solid evidence that improving community support reduces crime over time. The Brennan Center released a report in 2018, finding that each new nonprofit community organization in a neighborhood was associated with a 1.2 percent drop in homicides and a 1 percent reduction in violent crimes overall. Research from the Brookings Institution has linked expanded healthcare access to reductions in crime as well.
But those interventions take time. Better domestic violence resources might reduce assaults over the years. An improved hotline offers support, not immediate safety for someone whose life is being threatened tonight. For social services to fully absorb the role police play today, the budgets and programs would have needed to be in place decades ago. Rebuilding those supports is necessary. Communities dealing with urgent situations now won’t see those benefits quickly.
The circumstances around George Floyd’s death illustrate the limit directly. The 911 call that sent officers to intercept him was for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill. It’s not clear what a social worker at that call would have been expected to do. Social services can reduce crime by reducing poverty and the conditions that lead to it, but that’s a slower mechanism than a patrol car, and it doesn’t help in the immediate moment.
What Social Workers Need to Take On This Role
Social workers entering co-responder or alternative responder roles need training that goes beyond a standard MSW. Crisis intervention work requires specific skills: de-escalation with people in active psychosis, conflict mediation, and trauma-informed communication under pressure. Some programs build this training internally. Others draw from social work schools that have started developing crisis response curricula to meet growing demand.
The role also requires comfort operating outside traditional office settings, in the field, in emergency rooms, and at odd hours. That’s a different professional environment than most graduate programs prepare workers for. Programs that have succeeded tend to invest heavily in training, peer support, and clear protocols for when to call in police backup.
The Budget Reality
Even a full shift to co-responder and alternative responder models wouldn’t close the gap between what communities need and what police defunding could fund. According to a Bloomberg analysis, the total U.S. police budget was around $115 billion as of 2017. Estimates compiled by New York Magazine put the cost of addressing many root causes of crime, including ending homelessness, improving education, and reducing poverty, at around $253 billion. Defunding police alone doesn’t cover it.
It’s also clear to most human services workers that the problems extend well beyond the streets. Systemic issues run through prisons, hospitals, schools, and the political system. Reform in any of those areas requires money and political willpower well beyond anything yet committed.
Social Work Has Its Own Diversity Challenge
The conversation about racial disparities in policing has a parallel inside social services that gets less attention. A 2017 survey of social work graduates conducted by the Council on Social Work Education found that two-thirds are white. If co-responder and alternative responder programs expand significantly, the field will be sending predominantly white workers into predominantly Black and Brown communities, dealing with crises. That tension doesn’t disappear because someone carries a clipboard instead of a badge. The field has to reckon with it directly.
Where Things Stand Now
Co-responder and alternative responder programs have grown steadily since 2020, despite political headwinds. They’re vulnerable to budget cuts and changes in local leadership. But the evidence base has grown too. The STAR program in Denver has a Stanford study behind it. CAHOOTS has more than 35 years of data. B-HEARD in New York is expanding. The model is now being implemented in multiple cities.
Human services professionals drawn to crisis response, mental health, and community safety work have more pathways into the field than they did five years ago. The demand for trained, culturally competent workers who can handle these calls is real. So is the need to build the field in a way that earns trust from the communities it serves.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a co-responder program?
A co-responder program pairs a behavioral health specialist, often a social worker or mental health clinician, with a police officer to respond to certain 911 calls together. The officer manages any safety concerns while the clinician handles the mental or behavioral health component. These programs differ from alternative responder programs, where no police are involved at all.
Can social workers legally replace police in emergency situations?
Social workers can legally respond to non-violent crisis calls in many jurisdictions, particularly through alternative responder programs. They don’t have arrest authority and aren’t equipped to handle situations involving credible threats of violence. The legal and logistical framework varies significantly by city and state.
What training do social workers need for crisis response roles?
Beyond an MSW, social workers in crisis response roles typically need specialized training in de-escalation, conflict mediation, and working with people in active psychiatric distress. Many programs provide this training internally, and some graduate schools are beginning to build crisis response tracks into their curricula.
What is the CAHOOTS program?
CAHOOTS stands for Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets. It’s a non-police crisis response program that has operated in Eugene, Oregon, since 1989, dispatching a medic and a crisis worker to mental health, homelessness, and substance use calls. It handles a significant share of 911 calls in Eugene and has served as the model for alternative responder programs launched in cities across the country.
Did the defund the police movement lead to more social workers being hired?
The 2020 defund the police movement accelerated investment in co-responder and alternative responder programs in many cities, though most programs expanded through incremental budget shifts rather than large-scale police defunding. As of recent reporting, more than 100 alternative crisis response units are operating nationally, with programs in many large U.S. cities.
Key Takeaways
- Co-responder and alternative responder programs work – CAHOOTS, STAR, and B-HEARD have all demonstrated that routing non-violent crisis calls away from police reduces costs and improves outcomes for people in crisis.
- Two models exist with different trade-offs – Co-responder programs pair social workers with officers, while alternative responder programs send social workers alone. Each has implications for community trust, funding, and scalability.
- Social workers aren’t a complete police substitute – They handle non-violent crises well, but addressing root causes of crime requires long-term investment that outpaces what police defunding alone could fund.
- The field needs to address its own diversity gap – Two-thirds of social work graduates are white, per a 2017 CSWE survey. Expanding co-responder programs without addressing that creates its own problems.
- Demand for crisis-trained social workers is growing – Over 100 programs operate nationally as of recent reporting. Workers with specialized crisis response training are entering one of the fastest-growing areas of the field.
If you’re exploring a career in social work or human services, our human services career guide covers the degrees, credentials, and specializations that lead to roles in crisis response, community health, and public welfare.
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