East Brunswick Officially Joins ARRIVE Together Crisis Intervention Program

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — The East Brunswick Police Department has officially joined the ARRIVE Together crisis intervention program, Police Chief Frank LoSacco said Tuesday.

ARRIVE Together stands for Alternative Responses to Reduce Instances of Violence and Escalation. The program was spearheaded by the NJ Attorney General’s Office.

Back in September, East Brunswick Council adopted a resolution where the Police Department signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Rutgers University for the program.

The program officially went live in East Brunswick on Nov. 6, officials said.

The program has been customized to fit the needs, resources, and priorities of the communities in which they operate.

Under East Brunswick’s model, a specially trained police officer paired with a Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care mental health screener will respond to calls one day per week. When not actively responding to calls, the teams will visit people in the community who might benefit from further assistance, follow up on calls, and connect individuals to resources and services, the police department said.

East Brunswick has partnered with South Brunswick, South River, Plainsboro, and Cranbury, providing expanded response five days per week.

The program is now active in all 21 counties, making NJ the first state in the country to have a statewide law enforcement and mental health alternative response program.

According to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, ARRIVE achieves at least four important goals:

• Having a mental health specialist, rather than an officer, address behavioral health concerns is leading to safer outcomes for our most vulnerable residents.
• Increasing the utilization of mental health resources with screeners on scene from the beginning or near the beginning of a response, saving the officer wait time, bringing appropriate medical assistance faster, and preventing situations from escalating.
• Keeping residents in the community by reducing the number of individuals who are unnecessarily taken to the hospital.
• Improving trust between law enforcement and the community, improving the health and well-being of individuals with mental and behavioral health emergencies, and eliminating stigma by connecting individuals to care and resources rather than the criminal justice system.

Last year, the Washington D.C based thinktank Brookings Institution released a favorable report on the program saying it could reform policing.

“Analyzing data from 342 police service case calls shows that the ARRIVE Together program demonstrates promising results: reducing both the use of force and arrests and racial disparities in outcomes. Findings also show an increased utilization of social services,” the report said.

“ARRIVE Together has the potential to improve police-community relations, change law enforcement culture, and provide substantive assistance to people suffering from mental health symptoms.”

To learn more about the ARRIVE program and the current models operating across the state, please visit https://www.njoag.gov/programs/arrive-together/.

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