Law Enforcement

The Palm Beach County Law Enforcement division includes Palm Beach County Sheriffs’ Office with city and town police, Florida Highway Patrol, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Police, School Safety Officers.

Levers of Change: Actors

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office

City Police Departments

Domestic Violence

School Safety

Fire Rescue

First Responders

Jails

Levers of Innovation: Actions

Quick Wins (QW) or Major Project (MP)

Train all staff in ACEs and the intergenerational transmission of ACEs (QW)

Train police officers on Baker Acts and mental health, focusing on in-service training and new hire training (QW)

Include a therapist/social worker as part of law enforcement teams, to be present during calls (MP)

Universal Selected Indicated

Ensure law enforcement notifies schools (or the co-located school therapist, if present) when their is a household disturbance (MP).

Call to Action:

The recommendation is for Palm Beach County Law Enforcement to build competencies in recognizing the symptoms of traumatic stress and seek to understand how past trauma may be affecting functioning. 35 Additionally, coordinate services and interviews with other agencies to prevent re-traumatization between past trauma and present behavior. Importantly, take the opportunity to refer individuals to trauma-informed services for treatment and follow-up. Ultimately, integrate trauma-informed principles into everyday procedures.

The final step of integration is important and can change the course of lives drastically For example: Identifying the differences between a youth who is being combative and a youth who is reacting to a situation that has triggered a stress reaction can have life-altering consequences Rather than reacting to the combative behavior with more aggression, an officer can help a youth remain calm and create an environment of safety This could assist in de-escalating their hypervigilance and cease aggressive behavior patterns.

This approach can result in fewer charges for youth, a reduction in the use of secure detention, youth not being retraumatized and fewer or no injuries to either the youth or the responding officers Or an officer can respond aggressively and trigger a stronger traumatic response, which will likely only push the youth further into the juvenile justice system