VILLAS – Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland kicked off a pilot project within the state’s Arrive Together program, which pairs mental health professionals with police officers responding to calls for service relating to mental or behavioral health crises.
New Jersey piloted the program from December 2021 to January 2023 and is now expanding the pilot to nine counties, including Cape May County.
The program has state funding and will be run as a pilot involving a partnership between police departments in Middle and Lower townships.
At the April 26 presentation, held at the Millman Center in Villas, the mayors of both communities praised the program as one with an opportunity to make a real difference in community and law enforcement interaction.
Initially, the program will run Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. When a call for police support involves an individual known to have or seen to be exhibiting mental health distress, a trained mental health professional will arrive with the police in separate vehicles.
Sutherland emphasized the use of separate vehicles several times in his discussion of the program. The goal of using separate vehicles is to allow the mental health professional to be seen as separate from the police and uninvolved in the issue of law enforcement.
The goal of the interaction with the mental health professional is to help diffuse the immediate situation that initiated the call for police and to identify appropriate help and services for the individual if follow-up and treatment are seen as needed.
A major goal of the program statewide is to reduce the incidents of police use of force.
A Brookings Institute study referenced in Sutherland’s presentation states, “People suffering from a mental health crisis have a higher likelihood of injury or death during police encounters; 97% of cases did not use force and 98% of cases did not result in an arrest during an Arrive Together call for service or follow-up.”
Middle Township Mayor Timothy Donohue said the program is “another effort that helps bring trust into the community with folks with whom we need to build trust.”
Lower Township Mayor Frank Sippel called it “another tool in the toolbox” to help diffuse the potential for conflict.
Sutherland pointed to Cape May County’s Special Needs Registry. The registry broadly helps county residents self-identify needs that might require special assistance in any number of circumstances.
Within the context of the Arrive Together program, Sutherland said families that would like law enforcement to know of a mental health issue when responding to a call can record that information in the registry. The information would then be available to a responding officer who may know in advance that a mental health professional will be needed.
The importance of such advanced notice to police or other first responders is in the awareness that they might encounter behavior that otherwise could be misinterpreted.
The registry is a voluntary service and registration can be accomplished through a form on the Prosecutor’s Office website via the ‘Community Interface’ tab.
Sutherland said his ultimate goal is to expand the program county wide. The pilot will provide valuable information on effectiveness and costs.
Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner pointed to benefits for police officers who too often see themselves interacting with the same individuals multiple times without that individual getting the help and services needed.
Through Arrive Together, the goal will be to reduce the number of encounters with law enforcement, reduce the likelihood of use of force during any such encounters, and provide professionals who can recognize needs and do the follow-up to see that services are linked with the individual.
The Brookings analysis of the early New Jersey pilot results concludes, “It is clear that Arrive Together is a highly effective program for reducing arrests and use of force (even across racial groups and other demographic outcomes), providing people experiencing mental health symptoms with specialized services, and reducing the workload and lack of specialized training among law enforcement.”
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
