New Jersey Program Pairs State Troopers With Mental Health Professionals
Officials said the program is a recognition that the way mental health crises are currently handled by law enforcement is “unacceptable.”
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The New Jersey Attorney General’s office has announced a pilot program that will pair state troopers with a mental health professional when responding to certain crises, reports NJ.com. The initiative, known as ARRIVE Together, or “Alternative Responses to Reduce Instances of Violence & Escalation,” will initially be operated out of State Police’s Cumberland County stations based in Bridgeton and Port Norris. According to the attorney general’s office, in two out of every three times that an officer uses force a civilian is identified as either suffering from mental illness or is under the influence and over half of all fatal police encounters occur in similar circumstances.
Law enforcement officials, as well as police union leaders, applauded the initiative. The mental health professionals are state-funded roles that already operate in each New Jersey county. The Rutgers University School of Public Health will perform an assessment of the pilot program and later provide an evaluation of the program that will help determine the next phases of the ARRIVE Together Initiative.
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