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New Jersey Announces Initiative to Help Mental Health Professionals, Law Enforcement Respond to Behavioral Health Crises

New Jersey

Acting Attorney Andrew J. Bruck and New Jersey State Police Colonel Patrick J. Callahan announced the beginning of a pilot program that pairs a New Jersey State Police law enforcement Trooper with a certified mental health screener to respond together to 9-1-1 calls for behavioral health crises. 

The initiative, known as ARRIVE Together (“Alternative Responses to Reduce Instances of Violence & Escalation”), will be operated out of State Police’s Cumberland County stations based in Bridgeton and Port Norris. 

Today at 2:30 p.m., the Acting Attorney General and Colonel Callahan will join Reverend Charles F. Boyer, Director of Salvation and Social Justice, and Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae, in Cumberland County for a live-streamed public discussion of the initiative and concerns surrounding mental health and policing more generally. 

Across New Jersey, two out of every three uses of force by law enforcement involve a civilian identified as either suffering from mental illness or under the influence.  

Over half of all fatal police encounters occur in similar circumstances.  The ARRIVE Together Initiative is a recognition that these numbers are unacceptable and a step towards improving those outcomes.

Certified mental health screeners are state-funded roles that operate in all New Jersey counties.  The Cumberland County Guidance Center runs the crisis intervention and psychiatric screening program that is partnering with State Police in the ARRIVE Together Initiative.  

A Guidance Center screener will travel with a State Police Trooper in the Trooper’s vehicle to respond to 9-1-1 calls for service relating to mental, emotional, or behavioral crises during the pilot shifts that originate in State Police’s Cumberland County areas of responsibility.  Such calls for service will include mental health incidents, confused or disoriented persons, welfare checks, and suicide watch.

The Rutgers School of Public Health will perform an assessment, led by Dean Perry N. Halkitis, of the pilot program to identify strengths and weaknesses. 

In the course of the assessment, Rutgers will interview both participating troopers and screeners after their shifts responding to behavioral health emergencies and review data relating to the qualifying calls for service.  

After gathering and reviewing the data, Rutgers will provide an objective and independent evaluation of the pilot that will help determine subsequent phases of the ARRIVE Together Initiative.

“The Acting Attorney General’s new initiative, ARRIVE Together, recognizes the importance of connecting individuals experiencing a crisis with mental health professionals,” Governor Phil Murphy said. 

“This pilot program will help us assess how we can safely de-escalate behavioral health crises when law enforcement is contacted. We believe that this new initiative will help connect individuals in crisis to care and treatment and can help to reduce violence during interactions with law enforcement.”

“In modern times, we ask law enforcement officers to undertake roles they never expected when choosing to serve—marriage counselor, addiction specialist, social worker.  And increasingly, officers are asked to act like doctors and psychiatrists, determining what drug a person may have taken, or what mental health condition they may be experiencing,” Acting Attorney General Bruck said.  

“We need to respond to our community members in crisis with clinicians and compassion, and we need to divert individuals with mental illness away from the criminal justice system. Today’s announcement is yet another step in our effort to implement Governor Murphy’s vision for public safety in New Jersey.”

Beyond the ARRIVE Together Initiative, the Attorney General’s Office is working to ensure that all law enforcement officers are prepared for potential interactions with community members experiencing behavioral health crises.  

To that end, in consultation with subject matter experts, the Office has developed a reference card for law enforcement officers summarizing the types of disorders they may encounter, symptoms that individuals may experience, and suggested officer responses.  

The purpose of the reference card is not to ask officers to become doctors or psychiatrists but rather to gather basic resources on behavioral crises in a single, accessible location.  

The double-sided reference card is being distributed to all 38,000 law enforcement officers across the State of New Jersey.

For more information on the Attorney General’s Office’s initiatives to improve outcomes for individuals suffering from mental illness, intellectual disabilities and disorders, substance abuse, and other behavioral health concerns, please visit www.njoag.gov/behavioralhealth.

The Acting Attorney General, Colonel Callahan, Reverend Boyer, and Prosecutor Webb-McRae will be discussing the ARRIVE Together Initiative, as well as mental health and policing more generally, today at 2:30 p.m. in a live-streamed event. Watch here.

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