New Jersey expands police partnership with mental health screeners

SCOTCH PLAINS, N.J. -- New Jersey is expanding a program designed to have 911 calls end safely and without the use of force.

When a 911 call comes in about a mental or behavioral health crisis, the situation can escalate quickly, CBS2's Leah Mishkin reported Monday. 

"These are the cases that are most likely to result in use of force," New Jersey Acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. 

The police chiefs of Linden and Elizabeth say their officers will all take crisis intervention team training if they haven't already done so.  The training brings law enforcement and mental health professionals together to learn skills from one another, like de-escalation tactics. 

"It give knowledge and empathy," said Deborah White, retired Union County assistant prosecutor and co-training coordinator for Union County. 

It's an important set of tools. But as experts point out, officers are not mental health counselors. 

"We've asked them to be mental health professionals and behavioral health counselors and addiction specialists, and it's not realistic," Platkin said. 

The ARRIVE Together program pairs police officers or troopers with mental health screeners so they arrive to the scene together. 

Cases they responded to during a pilot program in Cumberland County resulted in no use of force, Platkin said. 

In one case, "The woman who was having the mental health episode said, 'I don't know why he's here. I don't trust law enforcement.' The trooper took a step back," Platkin said. 

The mental health screener stepped in an got the woman safely into treatment.

The police chiefs of Linden and Elizabeth said they look forward to piloting ARRIVE together in their departments. 

"We expect a decrease in escalation and a decrease of on-scene problems with having this joint patrol," Linden Chief of Police David Hart said. 

Even though officers do call for mental health screeners on scenes, it can take time for them to get there."

"If they're tied up or there's only a limited number of screeners," Hart said.

The program is set to kick off on June 14. The goal is for it to expand to every police department in New Jersey.