Social worker in every cop station – pol

ALL CITY police precincts would have to be staffed by a social worker under a new bill that will be introduced in the City Council this week.

Councilman Mark Treyger (DBrooklyn) is sponsoring the legislation, which would require a licensed clinical social worker on duty 24 hours a day.

“Many times police precincts come across individuals who have social and emotional needs. Precincts don’t have the capacity to deal with those kinds of issues,” Treyger said. “I don’t want those individuals falling through the cracks.”

A social worker could come in handy when a parent gets arrested and someone has to figure out who will take care of their kids, or when a neighborhood resident comes in to report a problem that does not amount to a crime, he said.

There’s no estimate of how much the bill would cost, but it would require hiring a few hundred new social workers.