Thematic focus: Social work and the police
Social work in the basement of policing – an introduction
by Norbert Pütter
The relationship between the police and social work is disputed in Germany since the 1970s. Though the differing professional self-concepts – control and law enforcement on the one hand, assistance and support on the other hand – is recognized, the assumption that social workers and the police target the same clientele and, thus, have to cooperate is an integral part of the security policy discourse. Whereas the police developed methods of quasi-social work, the policing aspects of social work were unfolded in the context of neoliberal policies since the 1990s. Meanwhile social work is at risk to lose its independence within the diverse networks of cooperation. Summaries weiterlesen