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Willimantic PD Experiments Sending College Social Work Interns On Calls

Connecticut’s Police Accountability Law will be one year old as of July 31. A provision of that law calls on police departments to at least consider having social workers accompany police or respond exclusively on assistance calls where mental health may be more of an issue than criminality. One place this is actually happening is in Willimantic, where the Police Department has partnered with Eastern Connecticut State University to form a pilot program that places undergrad social work student interns with officers. Willimantic Police Chief Paul Hussey and program leader Lt Matthew Solak joined "All Things Considered" to talk about the pilot program and what it could mean for the future of assigning some assistance calls to social workers instead of to officers.

John Henry Smith is Connecticut Public’s host of All Things Considered, its flagship afternoon news program. He's proud to be a part of the team that won a regional Emmy Award for The Vote: A Connecticut Conversation. In his 21st year as a professional broadcaster, he’s covered both news and sports.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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