NJ Pairing Up Counselors, Cops For Some 911 Calls

NEW JERSEY — This week, New Jersey launched a pilot program where every time a state trooper responds to a 911 behavioral health call, the trooper is paired with a certified mental health screener.

The trooper and the mental health counselor will respond together to the 911 call, said acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew Bruck and State Police Colonel Patrick Callahan. For now, the pilot program will only operate in South Jersey, in Cumberland County.

But if it goes well there, the Attorney General will expand it statewide.

The pilot is the first of its kind in New Jersey's history. New York City put a pilot in place this summer where mental health professionals and paramedics respond instead of police to nonviolent emergency calls.

However, New Jersey's program will still send a law enforcement officer to every call. Such calls for service often include mental health incidents, confused or disoriented persons, welfare checks and suicide watch.

"For decades society has asked police to play roles that don't have much to do with with law enforcement: Marriage counselor, addiction specialist, social worker," said acting Attorney General Bruck. "And increasingly they are also asked to act like doctors or psychiatrists, trying to determine what drugs a person might have taken or what mental health condition they might be facing."

Prior to the pilot, when someone in NJ calls 911 to report someone in a mental health crisis, police dispatch sends the closest officer to respond. Now, in Cumberland County, dispatch will send two people together to such calls: a state trooper and a mental health clinician. The trooper will secure the area, but the clinician will take the lead in responding to the person in crisis.

Last year, Bruck's office started collecting data on all use-of-force incidents by New Jersey police. They found that across the state, two out of every three uses of force involved a civilian identified as either suffering from mental illness or who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The AG also found that more than half of all fatal police encounters occur in similar circumstances. "Use of force" does not just mean the officer fired his or her gun; it could involve compliance holds and other tactics police use to subdue someone.

Attorney Bruck said those numbers were "unacceptable," and also called the pilot program "potentially transformative in New Jersey policing."

"Starting today, New Jersey is trying to reverse this trend," said Bruck. "If it succeeds, it's going to make a big difference in how New Jerseyeans interact with law enforcement."

The pilot is called ARRIVE Together (“Alternative Responses to Reduce Instances of Violence & Escalation”).

"It decreases the likelihood the incident will escalate to violence, and increases the likelihood the civilian will get the help they need," said the AG.

Here NJ Attorney General Bruck describe the ARRIVE Together pilot:

The Rutgers School of Public Health will do an assessment to see how the pilot program works out, and identify strengths and weaknesses. Both trooper and mental health clinician will be interviewed after the call for their thoughts on how the response went.

“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 can help to reduce violence during interactions with law enforcement," said Gov. Phil Murphy, who appointed Bruck, and who applauded the program.

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