San Francisco's Mayor London Breed is setting up her city's social workers for potential bloodshed, offering a series of "reforms" that even her former police commissioner calls "pure political pandering."  Social workers, people she thinks are her allies in her need to politically punish cops, may pay a horrendous price in blood for her panicky P.R.

Joe Vazquez of CBS San Francisco reports:

San Francisco police will no longer be called to settle disputes between neighbors, or to handle homeless people, or any non-criminal cases, according to a new plan announced by Mayor London Breed.

But not everybody thinks it's a good idea.

"This is pure political pandering," said Joe Alioto-Veronese, a former San Francisco Police Commissioner.

Alioto-Veronese said the SFPD is already underfunded and understaffed and that the concept of contracting social workers has its limits, as evidenced by the homeless crisis. 

S.F. mayor London Breed in 2018.
Photo credit: Pax Ahimsa Gethen.

Jazz Shaw of Hot Air points out what is obvious to anyone who has watched the now canceled TV series Cops:

When it comes to "disputes between neighbors," there are far too many situations where even the most capable social worker is going to be completely out of their depth. By the time somebody feels the need to dial 911, matters have generally gone far beyond the point of Bill and Hank arguing over which weedkiller works best on dandelions.

If an argument has come to blows and shows the possibility of escalating to weapons of any sort, you need someone in uniform on the scene who is trained in how to properly and physically break up the altercation and deescalate the situation until cooler heads prevail. Very often, just the sight of a police car and some uniformed officers will be enough to end the disturbance. But if some civilian in normal street clothes shows up and tries to interfere, they may very well wind up with a punch in the nose themselves.

When it comes to the city's homeless encampments, there are already social workers out there on a regular basis trying to help those who are willing to accept assistance. You generally only see the police getting involved when some of them are breaking the law and/or becoming violent. Some of them are also dealing with mental health or addiction problems, making the potential for violence an ever-present concern. Social workers are wonderful for certain situations, but sometimes you simply need the strong arm of the law.

A reader who has experience as a social worker writes:

Situations are far more uncertain and complex than the left would have us believe. You can't isolate various kinds of calls for police help into neat and tidy boxes. And a social worker will only become another burden for the police when some homeless person or dispute between neighbors gets complicated because of mental illness, drugs, craziness, weapons, etc., so now the cop will not only have to deal with the person in question, but will have to take care of the social worker or whatever other person that gets sent out with them.  And if they don't go in teams (which would be a logistical nightmare to schedule), and the non-cop goes out alone, good luck to them.