In 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, there was significant public outcry calling for police reform. Among the reforms people wanted to see most was the use of social workers on certain calls, people with no badge and no gun who could deal with someone in the throes of a mental health crisis.
While many, including some in law enforcement, stood firmly against such a shift in the paradigm around policing and balked at the idea, initiatives that bring social workers into the fold have taken hold across the country, including in the Tar Heel state where Western Carolina University has developed a program that allows aspiring social workers to complete their required field internship with a police department.
Kasey Curcio, originally from Ashe County, graduated from WCU with a bachelor’s in social work in 2024, during which she did an internship with the Waynesville Police Department. She enjoyed her time with officers at that agency so much that now, as she pursues her master’s degree in Social Work, she has stayed onboard in Waynesville to complete her required field work for the advanced degree.
Curcio said the first thing she did when she started with WPD was go speak with other stakeholders in the community who represent resources that could prove valuable for the people she would be trying to help, such as Pathways Center, Meridian Behavioral Health and the DSS office.
Before long, Curcio began responding to calls with officers, typically riding along in a patrol car all day. When a call came in that she could help with, she and her assigned officer would respond. The job is basically two-fold. One, help to deescalate a tense situation, typically with an individual who is experiencing either addiction, a mental health issue or poverty; two, connect that person with resources that might help them navigate whatever crisis they’re experiencing long-term.
“For example, this morning, there was a lady who was removed from a nonprofit, and she has nowhere to go, so I just called around to some local churches,” Curcio said. “Somebody was willing to provide one night stay at a hotel. So now, I will go and transport her and then just make sure that she’s safe in a hotel, and then my goal would be to find long term housing for her. This helps officers deal with frequent offenders who consistently rack up low-level charges like second-degree trespassing for whom jail might not be the right solution. While there are some criminals who need to be put behind bars, there are plenty who just need a way out of a deep hole.
In addition to working with people she encounters out on patrol, Curcio can also speak to someone on a referral, whether that comes from an officer or a member of the public.
However, while Curcio has been able to connect people with services and help, not all are even interested in talking. She said it was tough at first to understand that and not take it personally, but now, after seeing plenty of people come around only after several face-to-face meetings, she understands that it’s a process. That knowledge has helped her improve in one-on-one situations. There typically comes a point that people grow to trust her and disclose more and more about their problems and needs.
“Most of the time, at first, they’re like ‘No, I don’t want help. Don’t talk to me,’” Curcio said. “And then, a week later, I’ll have a missed phone call from them like, ‘I do need your help.’ It just takes time, and they have to accept the help.”
“I guess it’s just accepting that it’s not a failure if they say ‘no’ in the beginning and to keep moving forward,” she added.
Kasey Curcio. File photo
Another challenge reflects the bigger issues that often leave those most in need feeling despondent after seeking help on their own.
“Navigating the system is tough,” she said. “I didn’t realize it would be so hard as a social worker … to try to seek those services.”
“Now that I’ve made contacts with most of those agencies and I have a direct line, it’s a lot easier. I have a foot in the community now,” she added. “But in the beginning, it was extremely tough.”
The internship Curcio is taking part in is made possible by The Community Care Program, which began in 2021 with a partnership between WCU and the Sylva Police Department. The program was started by Katy Allen, an associate instructor at WCU who is also the director of field education in the department of social work, when she partnered with Criminology and Criminal Justice Professor Cyndy Caravelis.
The pair noticed that some agencies across the country were allowing social workers to join officers on patrol, but there was a problem.
“All of the examples were in big cities,” Allen said. “That’s why we decided to start our program.”
On calls for service, the first job for law enforcement is to secure the scene and make sure everyone is safe. However, once the threat of violence or instability has passed, if no arrests are made, that’s often the end of an officer’s involvement. Allen said she’s already seen an improvement in communities that have social workers who can step in after that initial response to start to get to the bottom of the underlying issues that may be fueling any turmoil.
Allen said that it takes about two to three years for a department to become comfortable with having a social worker around, at which point she said she typically sees a quick turn as officers come to value the support those individuals can bring.
“Kasey has felt over the last year and half she’s been working with the Waynesville Police Department, that she’s built relationships with officers,” Allen said. “They trust her, and she trusts them. They’ve made connections and they know when to use her as a resource.”
Assistant Police Chief Josh Schick, who spent much of his career with WPD on patrol, agreed with that assessment. He said that while some officers may have been reluctant initially to accept that a social worker has a place in policing, now, everyone loves it.
“We’re pretty accepting, so I don’t think she ever had any issues,” Schick said. “But I think at first, they were probably like … ‘What is she gonna say to somebody that we’ve been dealing with for 10 years?’ But I think when they noticed the benefit of it, they were like, ‘Wow, we’re not answering a call for so-and-so every other day.’ There’s a benefit and a need for it in the department.”
Likewise, Chief David Adams said he was initially skeptical about having a social worker responding to calls when the conversation hit the mainstream in 2020; however, he admitted that he’s been “pleasantly surprised.” Despite his initial apprehension, Adams called the Sylva police chief to see how the program was working over there. When he heard how well things were going, he became intrigued and got onboard.
Now, not only is Curcio viewed as a valuable asset for the department, another social work intern from WCU, Tom Hines, is doing his internship with WPD and is also excelling.
“It’s nice to be able to send [Curcio] or anyone else out in that role to speak to people,” Adams said. “She can go speak to somebody that a police officer can’t, just because it’s not as threatening. They’re not in uniform; they’re not there judging you or saying ‘I’m gonna take you to jail.’ It’s a plus for the police department and the community. It can save the town money, it can help people, and it helps the officers. It makes sense.”
For her part, Curcio has so enjoyed the chance to serve the community through the police department that she has applied for a full-time job and hopes to work on patrol, as a school resource officer or perhaps even a detective one day. She said she is excited to have the chance to employ the same skills while in uniform that she has honed in her internship.