DELHI TWP., Ohio — Three months ago, Delhi Township hired Kalee Vicars as a community advocate and in her short time serving the township, she's been making crucial connections between residents and resource providers.
As a social worker working within the Delhi Township Police Department, Vicars helps follow up on calls for service, typically those related to domestic violence, drug abuse and mental health.
“So I'm looking at where we've been, if we've had any mental health runs, if we've had any addresses where we might have been multiple times in that 24 or 48 hour period,” Vicars said. “I'm looking at any of those addresses, if we might have been there previously, what those previous runs were. Any violent calls, like domestic violence calls and kind of looking at who the victim is, who the perpetrator is and what services either of those people could benefit from.”
Sometimes she meets them at their home, but more often the connection begins with a phone call to link them to additional resources. For Delhi police, Vicars’ expertise is available 24/7 and they have kept her busy.
“I think it's very important for the community, very important for our police department to have a resource like Kalee within our grasp," said Lieutenant Joe Macaluso. "The officers are there for the immediate emergency. They go to the calls and then oftentimes they leave, and they haven't really fixed the issue. Sometimes when you make an arrest it temporarily takes care of the issue, but it doesn't fix the problem down the road. And so, for us to have a resource like Kaylee to be able to reach out and have her reach out to people is invaluable.”
Vicars’ also works for Women Helping Women as they respond to domestic violence calls. She said she enjoys advocating for those clients and her position in Delhi allows her to continue her passion. She looks to increase connections with the community and the police department.
“Just letting people know that this is a safe place, that they can come that if they need anything they can reach out and just being able to create that connection is a really big win too,” she said
