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Four years ago, the city of Alexandria, Ky., decided to hire a social worker instead of another police officer for their police department. Since then, they've been able to solve problems in the community that the police departmentin Alexandria was never able to solve before, as well as save $40,000-50,000 a year. Their social worker, Kelly Pompilio, said there has been a significant drop in repeat 911 calls, with approximately 15 percent fewer people going to jail, since she's been on the job. In the meantime, they have hired a second social worker, and their model has the potential to be adopted by bigger cities to serve their communities better.
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