Operation Helping Hand Expands Again In Burlington County

BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ — The Burlington County Prosecutor's Office is expanding its "Operation Helping Hand" program into the municipal court that serves Burlington City and Burlington Township. Outreach and treatment options are being offered to those who are arrested on nonviolent offenses related to their drug use.

In partnership with the police departments in those two communities, as well as Solstice Counseling and Wellness Center (“Solstice”), the prosecutor’s office’s Municipal Court Directive Initiative is giving anyone who is arrested for drug-related disorderly persons offenses or petty disorderly persons offenses the chance to enter treatment. They can also have their court matter adjourned temporarily.

After they complete treatment, they return to court to face charges. The municipal prosecutor and municipal judge can consider their progress when determining the appropriate disposition or sentence in the case, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Enrolling in the program is not a guarantee that the charges will be dropped or reduced, the prosecutor’s office said. However, the municipal prosecutor and judge will give consideration to program participants who make a good-faith effort to pursue treatment, participate in counseling and embrace the recovery process. Assessments, referrals to an appropriate treatment program for each participant, and assistance with aftercare will be provided by Solstice.

“We will continue to explore different options to provide support and assistance to people struggling with addiction,” Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said. “Being arrested puts one at a crossroads, and through the MCDI, we will present the opportunity for a person struggling with substance use to start down the road to recovery. We cannot relent in this effort if we hope to conquer this horrific opioid epidemic, which continues to destroy so many lives.”

The program is focused on defendants charged with nonviolent offenses in municipal court. Eligible defendants must be referred by a police officer from the City of Burlington or Burlington Township police departments, or by the municipal prosecutor who prosecutes cases in the joint municipal court.

“We are grateful to Burlington County Assignment Judge Jeanne T. Covert, Municipal Court Presiding Judge Dennis McInerney, Municipal Prosecutor Dan Gee, Burlington Township Public Safety Director Bruce Painter, and City of Burlington Police Chief John Fine for their enthusiastic support of this initiative,” Coffina said. “We look forward to working with them and their agencies to offer help to people whose offenses are driven by addiction rather than malice, while still holding them accountable for their actions.”

This is the third round of Operation Helping Hand that has been launched by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. In the first round of the program, the prosecutor's office focused on overdose victims who had been revived using Narcan. In the second round, recovery specialists joined law enforcement throughout August on any call that involved someone who is battling addiction, according to the prosecutor's office.

The prosecutor's office runs the program with City of Angels, a nonprofit recovery advocacy organization based in Mercer County. It is funded through a $58,824 grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services that is administered by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

Last year, City of Angels recovery specialists had a greater than 80% success rate in having people agree to recovery coaching, and ultimately, over 33% of the people with whom this connection was made went into treatment. Read more here: County Expands Operation Helping Hand Treatment Program

The pilot MCDI is expected to run through at least August 2020. In addition, this month the Prosecutor’s Office and law enforcement agencies throughout Burlington County are again making recovery specialists available on a 24/7 basis to anyone they believe could benefit from substance abuse treatment or counseling.

This initiative will run throughout the month of February, and be reprised in May and July 2020. Read more here: Burlington County Announces Results Of Drug Treatment Program

Operation Helping Hand launched in Bergen County, where law enforcement officers arrested users purchasing heroin and other narcotics at open-air drug markets. When the users were brought to the police station or prosecutor's office for processing on narcotics possession charges, recovery specialists and other healthcare partners were waiting to connect them with treatment and recovery services.

Operation Helping Hand is one of three Burlington County Prosecutor's Office initiatives aimed at combating the opioid epidemic.

Operation Safe Overnight focuses on saving lives and increasing enforcement activity at hotels and motels that have experienced overdoses and drug-related criminal activity.

Through this program, with the support of Virtua Health, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office has provided Narcan to county hotels and has also trained hotel employees how to use it to reverse an overdose and save a person's life.

Straight … to Treatment is a program that allows people to walk off the street and into police stations in three municipalities to seek treatment for drug addiction, regardless of whether they are insured or live in Burlington County.

It was introduced in Evesham in early 2018 and later expanded to Pemberton and Burlington City.
Straight … to Treatment Hours of Operation:

• Evesham Twp. Police Department, 984 Tuckerton Road, Mondays: noon – 7 p.m.
• Pemberton Twp. Police Department, 500 Pemberton-Browns Mills Road, Tuesdays: noon – 6 p.m.
• City of Burlington Police Department, 525 High Street, Wednesdays and Thursdays: noon – 6 p.m.