Psychoanalysis on the beat. Children, police, and urban trauma

Anna Freud's legacy to child psychoanalysis was her understanding and description of the complexities of development and her ability to apply her findings to the care of children both within and outside of the consulting room. In addition to her approach to consultation with nonanalytic professionals concerned with children's development and well-being, she established a model for generations of child analysts and other analytically oriented clinicians. Both of Ms. Freud's concepts of development and collaboration with other professionals have served as a basis for the implementation of the Child Development-Community Policing Program in New Haven, Connecticut. This collaboration between mental health and police professionals will be described in this paper, with particular emphasis on the application of Ms. Freud's work to attempts to intervene on the behalf of children and families exposed to urban violence.