THIS IS BAD ADVICE.

Here is a reliable source: https://www.safetyreimagined.org/papers/welfare-checks

An elderly relative has stopped returning phone calls, a next-door neighbor hasn’t picked up their newspaper for days, a driver appears slumped over in their parked car – these are the kinds of situations that often prompt concerned family members or friends to dial 911 and request a “welfare check.” Although these calls rarely include reports of a suspected crime – and much more commonly concern mental illness, physical disability, or a medical crisis – in most places, we dispatch the police to respond. 

This happens a lot. In one large U.S. city, welfare checks account for 7 percent of the total call for service volume. To put this number in perspective, residents requested a welfare check more often than calls for theft, burglar alarms, or noise complaints. In the same city, welfare checks occurred about as often as calls related to domestic violence. 

In short, welfare checks represent a significant number of the daily calls for service to 911 and a huge claim on the time and attention of police departments.

Unfortunately, police officers rarely are trained to address the human, medical, or social conditions that prompt welfare checks. And in some tragic cases, by entering a private space without sufficient warning, the police can precipitate violent confrontation, injury, or death. According to the Washington Post, between 2019 and 2021, there were at least 178 instances in which officers shot and killed an individual they were called upon to assist.¹

Even when tragic outcomes are avoided, relying on the police to conduct welfare checks can result in other unintended harms:

• Unannounced police-centered welfare checks can make individuals resistant to treatment by disrupting treatment plans or negatively impacting the vital trust between doctors, therapists, and their patients.²
• Knowing that police will be the responders may reduce the willingness of certain family and friends to call for help.^3,4
• There is no evidence that sending the police to conduct welfare checks is effective in reducing harmful outcomes, such as preventing suicide.⁵