Stabbing of NJ Welfare Worker Shines Spotlight on Police Cuts

Child case worker Leah Coleman was stabbed by a client just days after the state pulled police officers from welfare offices across New Jersey.

The decision to remove police was made, in part, in order to stem mounting overtime costs for Human Services Police, the department charged with patrolling New Jersey's welfare facilities.

Under the new security guidelines issued by the Department of Human Services, police were removed from welfare office buildings and reassigned to state psychiatric hospitals. 

Heddy Rosenstein heads up the state chapter of the Communication Workers of America, the union that represents New Jersey's welfare workers. She said her organization has been against the cuts from the start because it leaves their workers and the children they serve at risk.

"This is one of the most dangerous jobs in New Jersey," said Rosenstein. "We have had people hurt before. Now, even when they're just sitting in their office trying to do their job. They almost are killed!"

Authorities said 30-year-old Taisha Edwards has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons offenses. She's currently being held on $500,000 nail. Coleman remains in critical, but stable, condition at an area hospital.

"The police restructuring the unions are referencing cannot and should not be linked to this tragic incident," said a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services. "[The department] does not provide security for these buildings. Officers are in and out of the [welfare] offices regularly, accompanying case workers to various home visits and field work."

The monitor appointed to oversee New Jersey's child-welfare system said she is waiting to see how the state responds to the stabbing, but warned that an incident like this could make it harder to recruit and keep caseworkers.

With the Associated Press