ARRIVE on the Front Lines
By Albert B. Kelly
The issue of people in the midst of a mental health crisis and how such calls are handled by police has gotten a lot of attention in the last several years. The problem is complicated with many shades of gray. For one thing, government at all levels has been behind the curve when it comes to recognizing that an increasing number of people have mental health issues.
Part of this lack of recognition has to do with the large number of factors that impact mental health. Everything from poverty and substance abuse to social media and lead-based paint impact mental health. Often, those suffering the most are dealing with a combination of factors such as poverty and drug addiction. Throw in depression, and loneliness and no wonder so many seem so close to the edge.
We’ve not come close to adequately funding facilities and programs to handle the growing number of people in some type of crisis. What we did for a long time is try and ignore the problem and when that didn’t work because the problem wouldn’t be quiet and stay in the shadows, we called on law enforcement to intervene and that’s become the tip of the spear.
When police show up at a scene, they have little to no knowledge of what they’re walking into. If someone is not responding to their commands and directives, they have no way of knowing if that noncompliance signals hostile criminal intent or is symptomatic of a mental health crisis. Their first obligation is to protect the public, their colleagues and themselves and it all happens very quickly.
That is why a new program known as “ARRIVE” (Alternative Responses to Reduce Instances of Violence and Escalation) promises to change the equation. This new program has a plain-clothes law enforcement officer teaming up with a certified mental health screener to respond to calls where there is a behavioral health crisis.
While this pilot program kicked off last December in Cumberland County in areas served exclusively by the State Police, it will now be implemented in Bridgeton as an expansion of the pilot phase. The program originated out of the Attorney General’s Office and program coordination will involve the County Prosecutor, local law enforcement officials, as well as the Cumberland County Guidance Center.
Once a scene is safe, law enforcement will have immediate access to a mental health screener so that a person in the midst of a mental health crisis of some type will receive appropriate attention before things have a chance to escalate. Often a person in the midst of a psychological crisis will become fearful and agitated by a police presence.
Having immediate access to a mental health professional lessens the chances that someone in crisis will focus exclusively on law enforcement. A trained mental health professional will be able to engage with a person in crisis in a way that law enforcement is simply not equipped to do, redirecting the focus away from confrontation and toward a safer outcome.
In the City of Bridgeton, calls that are not obviously criminal in nature, but are psychological in nature, could range between 150 and 415 depending on a how someone characterizes the call. Regardless of whether the number is on the low end or the high end, there could be ample opportunities for things to end badly if we were to be content with a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
In 2021, the ARRIVE program was in Union County. The program saw the cities of Elizabeth and Linden working collaboratively through a shared services agreement and this same shared services approach will be utilized with Bridgeton and the New Jersey State Police.
Admittedly, it is a pilot program, a proof of concept, but you have to start somewhere. The State Legislature very recently appropriated $2 million dollars to expand the ARRIVE program to additional municipalities over the next year and the expectation is that some of those funds will be allocated to Cumberland County.
I try not to expect too much from a new program because what any given program is intended to achieve and what it actually achieves can be quite different. But I have high hopes for this program because I believe it will help those in crisis as well as our officers and that’s no small thing.