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Little Rock police add social worker to help with the mentally ill

Mental illness isn't a crime. The new addition allows a decrease in interactions between those with mental illness and law enforcement officers.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Day in and day out, police officers respond to a wide variety of calls. Some of those calls don't involve crime.

“There are calls that officers get that are just pure mental health calls,” Mallory Visser said.

As Little Rock police officers work to handle such crises, Visser is in a position to help.

“This is a great job to be able to meet literally everyone in the city and get to help my neighbors, get to help the the entire community," Visser said.

Mallory Visser has worked in LRPD's victims' services unit since 2019. But this summer, she became the department's first dedicated social worker. Visser will now focus her efforts on people dealing with mental illness, homelessness and substance abuse, who are referred to her by officers.

“Once I get the referral, then I'm able to reach back out to that family or that individual and work more long term,” she said.

That could include referring them to the crisis stabilization unit, helping them find a rehab facility or linking them up with a therapist.

“It’s not a crime to be mentally ill or to have a mental illness,” Visser said. “One of the goals of the program is to decrease the amount of interactions they're having with law enforcement, when law enforcement isn't really what they need.”

Visser's position is new to Little Rock, but police social workers are hardly a new concept.

“It has been really successful in other states,” she said.

She's working to bring that success to Little Rock one person and one partnership at a time.

“Having people call and say whatever resources we provided them, or even just giving people a safe outlet to talk about things that are going on, has been really, really helpful for a lot of people,” she said.

The social worker position is funded by a federal grant awarded to the city.

The department says this is not about replacing any officer positions, but instead, a new outlet to work with people in the city and ultimately make it safer.

    

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