According to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, “two out of every three uses of force by law enforcement involve a civilian suffering from mental illness or who is under the influence. Over half of all fatal police encounters occur in similar circumstances.” These figures suggest that police need professional support to better respond to incidents that involve a mental health crisis. Similar challenges have been noted across the country as people with serious mental illness are over ten times more likely to experience the use of force and sustain injuries when interacting with police compared to persons without such illness.
In response, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General launched the ARRIVE Together (Alternative Responses to Reduce Instance of Violence and Escalation) program in 2021 to make interactions between New Jerseyans and law enforcement safer. In this co-responder model, a police officer trained in crisis intervention and de-escalation is paired with a certified mental health screener or crisis specialist. Together, they respond to 911 calls in an unmarked vehicle with the goal of reducing the use of force, preventing the incidents from escalating, and connecting individuals in crisis to appropriate mental health services.
Mental health crises differ from other situations. People with serious mental illness are not inherently more violent than others and in fact are more likely to be victims of violence. Yet individuals in crisis may misinterpret police commands, and behavior by officers perceived as aggressive can worsen their symptoms. Additionally, crises that lead to a law enforcement response often arise when proper medical care is unavailable.
Importantly, there is little research on the intersection between mental illness and race in how police respond to mental health crises, but race inevitably plays a role. Black men, in particular, are disproportionately represented at every stage of the criminal justice process—from police stops to incarceration—and they are also the demographic most likely to be killed by police. The intersection between poverty and race is critical, too. Poor communities tend to be overpoliced and under-resourced when it comes to access to mental health care.
There is also limited research about the nature of encounters between police and people experiencing a mental health crisis as there continues to be no nationwide register of police use of force that includes data on injuries, killings, and whether victims had a mental health condition. This is why closely and continuously evaluating state-level programs like ARRIVE Together is critical for improving police-citizen encounters. Understanding where, for whom, and to what extent such programs work can help protect vulnerable residents and, more broadly, strengthen community trust.