‘They need help.’ State College police pursue funds to implement social work program
State College Police Department hopes to add a social worker to support community members, and sought help from the Centre County Commissioners Tuesday to help make it a reality.
A grant application to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for crisis intervention and pretrial diversion program funding was approved Tuesday to be submitted by the commissioners. Centre County will serve as the applicant agency for the collaborative grant application and the State College Police Department would be the recipient agency of the funds.
The $150,000 grant, if awarded, would be used to develop and implement a State College Police Department Social Work program with the State College Borough. The grant would cover the lead social worker’s salary and health benefits for two years.
The program would provide preventative services and case management for individuals interacting with law enforcement, Hannah Babiss, State College Borough’s local government management fellow, said during the meeting. She said the program would help those individuals regarding a variety of social issues, including mental health, homelessness, substance abuse, and family management challenges.
There would also be an emphasis on supporting “underrepresented and historically oppressed community members,” she said. This would be an effort to reduce the rate that individuals enter or re-enter the justice system.
Many people have repeated interactions with law enforcement, but don’t have the capacity to do follow up services that would lead to less interactions, Babiss said.
“A social worker could really provide case management, and follow up with individuals, which we hope would lead to a decrease in the rate at which individuals enter or re-enter the justice system,” she said.
Mental health, substance abuse and homelessness can impact anyone, Commissioner Steve Dershem said. This program presents an opportunity to reach some people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to find help. It also provides the police officers with another tool, he said.
“It’s almost a recidivism issue for us as well because as those folks churn through the criminal justice system over and over, it doesn’t usually have a good outcome for them. This is an opportunity to break that cycle,” Dershem said.
Mental health calls continue to increase, State College Borough Police Chief John Gardner said, adding that police officers do “an exceptional job, but they need help.”
“They need help. And a lot of the times, the help that is needed is to continually go back to the same client and client base. And so, this will give us an opportunity to personally address that through a civilian employee who may be more relatable to a person in crisis,” Gardner said.
Centre County Commissioner Michael Pipe said over the past several years, the county has been piecing together Human Services and Criminal Justice services, like the county’s DUI and drug courts. The data and evidence-based approach shows that there are better outcomes with such programs. He said he was excited for this grant opportunity.
The State College police service area includes about 56,000 residents, a third of the county’s population. Commissioner Mark Higgins said he hopes to see this roll out quickly, in an impactful way. He said the county has been waiting for an opportunity like this.
“It is incredibly expensive to put people even in the County Correctional Facility, not just financially, but from a social standpoint, emotional standpoint. All of these individuals are part of families and that ends up impacting some of the other county departments, Children and Youth, Aging, etc.,” Higgins said.
