Conversation and Compassion โ
Dec. 9, 2019 – Larsen stays put, barely looking up from her laptop as Goncalves approaches the man. Goncalves asks for his ID and reads his license number into the radioโno outstanding warrants. The two stand on the sidewalk, an armโs distance apart, their faces neutral. Then, the man adjusts his hat, pulls up his jeans, and heads down the sidewalk. โHeโs on his way,โ Goncalves says into the radio. โClear.โ … Goncalves climbs back in his cruiser and shifts into drive. No one says a word.
The exchange feels unremarkable, and that, Larsen argues, is whatโs so remarkable about it. She isnโt Goncalvesโ partner but a โco-responderโโa clinical social worker embedded in the police department to offer help to people rather than tossing them in jail. Until recently, that man, or anyone suspected of using drugs, might have ended up in cuffs. But now, Larsen trusts that officers will take a different approachโso much so that in April, when I accompanied Larsen on a Friday evening shift, she didnโt feel the need to jump out or really even monitor Goncalvesโ interaction. โRather than treating him like he was a criminal nodding off on the side of the road, on a main street, he had a conversation,โ Larsen tells me later. โBasically assessed for safety and moved him along.โ
