I don't see how its misguided to have a social worker working with a police officer who is dispatched to the scene of someone having a mental breakdown. While I agree we need more beds for the mentally unwell, there is nothing wrong with having someone properly trained in dealing with this population instead of relying on untrained police officers to respond to these types of calls.

Just a few weeks ago I had to have one of my clients sectioned and the cops who showed up were immediately... hmmm not aggressive but not kind in their approach and ended up setting the guy off even more. If I wasn't there to intervene it could have been worse, but instead I asked the person to go back into their apt and asked the cops to let me handle the talking, which they were more than happy to do. Eventually the person calmed down and came out and we all joked around while waiting for the ambulance.