On the other hand, a police call for service under the purview of the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) Alternative Responses to Reduce Instances of Violence and Escalation (ARRIVE) Together Program involves a combined response from law enforcement and mental health professionals seeking to provide support to an individual in crisis.
For Bayshore Police Chiefs Association President and Aberdeen Township Police Chief Matt Lloyd, the contrast is not only striking, but illustrative of why it works so well.
“People can be intimidated by the car, by the cuffs, by the badge. And there’s still a stigma regarding mental health – people are hesitant to talk about it, to report it, to open up about it,” Chief Lloyd said. “ARRIVE Together is designed to undercut both of these tendencies, instilling an immediate sense of trust, calm, and understanding to police encounters. From our officers who go out on such calls to the people they encounter, to the community at large, we routinely hear sincerely expressed gratification and satisfaction that it has proven to be such a useful vehicle to deliver help to the people who need it most.”
Noting that approximately two out of every three uses of force by law enforcement in the previous year had involved a civilian dealing with mental health and/or substance abuse issues, in December 2021 OAG launched ARRIVE Together as a Co-Response model, in which a plainclothes officer in an unmarked vehicle arrives to a scene alongside a trained mental health professional, seeking to deescalate an encounter between law enforcement and a person in crisis.
The number of ARRIVE Together models statewide has since grown to five, and every county in the state has adopted its own form of it, all with one simple goal: to
provide a mental health resource to law enforcement to help them respond to the needs of their community.
“Amidst our country’s ongoing mental health epidemic, law enforcement officers are often the first called. ARRIVE Together couples standard police training and the training of behavioral health professionals, leading to safer, more positive outcomes for individuals in need, for the responding officers, and for our communities,” Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said.
In Monmouth County, the ARRIVE Together program debuted in the form of two of these five models: the Link 2 Care Referral and Follow-Up model and the Co-Response model. The Co-Response model, which the county adopted in late 2023, began in Long Branch (on Tuesdays) and by the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office (countywide, on Wednesdays). In 2025, the program expanded throughout the Bayshore region (on Thursdays), with the aforementioned mental health professionals going out on the calls made available by RWJBarnabas Health.
Link 2 Care specifically pertains to individuals who may not currently be experiencing a crisis, but whose symptoms related to mental health and having repeated contacts with police may be worsening. Link 2 Care provides officers with a mechanism to connect such individuals with whatever assistance and resources they need, in both the short term and the long term. Through Link 2 Care, police officers countywide can refer individuals to a team of mental health specialists from CPC Integrated Health and the Mental Health Association of Monmouth County for case review, treatment, and management – there have been approximately 550 such referrals made countywide since 2024.
The third form of ARRIVE Together now active in Monmouth County is the Critical Incident model, which adds mental health professionals to the Monmouth County Emergency Response Team (MOCERT). Tactical law enforcement officers, crisis negotiators, and legal advisors are joining forces with an ARRIVE mental health partner to address some of the most critical and complicated calls for service, with an eye on de-escalation.
Funding for all three models of ARRIVE in Monmouth County is provided by OAG’s Office of Alternative and Community Responses.
“ARRIVE Together partnerships are changing how participating communities address the intersection of public health and public safety,” said Tiffany Wilson, Director of the OAG Office of Alternative and Community Responses. “Monmouth County is demonstrating that ARRIVE is a broader health- and community-centered partnership and a resource for and with law enforcement.”
Since 2024, there have been more than 670 ARRIVE callouts countywide, with 154 of them, nearly a quarter, taking place in the Bayshore – which includes the municipalities of Matawan, Aberdeen, Keyport, Union Beach, Hazlet, Holmdel, Keansburg, Middletown, Atlantic Highlands, and Highlands.
The efficacy of ARRIVE was profiled in a Brookings Institution report that analyzed several hundred callouts taking place across the State in 2023; it found that 97 percent of the police encounters resulted in no force being used, with 98 percent not resulting in an arrest.
“Within communities, ARRIVE Together has the ability to help establish and restore trust in law enforcement. Within police departments, ARRIVE Together has the potential to change law enforcement culture in positive ways and provide officers with more strategies in their toolkit to better communicate and interact with the public,” the report read. “The pilot data suggest that the ARRIVE Together program shows much promise and should be expanded and examined across the country.”
The three ARRIVE models seamlessly integrate with a vital preexisting training program in Monmouth County; hundreds of officers from dozens of agencies across the county have completed Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training, the 11th installment of which wrapped up earlier this week. CIT participants undergo a weeklong session encompassing an in-depth look at mental illness, behavioral health, developmental disabilities, and their implications for a law-enforcement response during a crisis.
Before an officer can participate in ARRIVE Together Co-Response model, he or she must complete CIT Training.
A Monmouth University study published in November 2025, based on polls of slightly more than 200 police officers who had completed CIT training in Monmouth County over the span of 40 months, found statistically significant increases in officers’ abilities to handle calls relating to emotionally disturbed persons (EDPs) – on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating strong disagreement and 5 indicating strong agreement, poll participants went from a pre-course average of 3.90 to a post-course average of 4.27 regarding confidence in handing an encounter with an obviously suicidal person.
“The success of these programs is reflective of the solemn recognition that the individuals our police officers encounter on their patrols every day often are committing no crimes, but merely in need of a helping hand to get their lives back on track,” Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said. “This not only makes our jobs easier, but promotes quality of life, both for those who receive assistance and for the broader community at large.”
“Programs like ARRIVE Together are transforming the way law enforcement serves our communities,” Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden said. “By pairing trained officers with mental health professionals, we are ensuring that individuals in crisis receive the care and support they need. Our sheriff’s officers are proud to be part of this initiative and work alongside partners in mental health services, as it allows us to better serve residents in moments when compassion and understanding matter most. The collaborative approach strengthens trust and delivers real, lasting benefits to the residents we protect.”
The programs will be profiled in greater detail during the upcoming ARRIVE Together/Link 2 Care Resource Fair for Law Enforcement, scheduled to take place from
10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Friday, May 8 at Brookdale Community College in the Lincroft section of Middletown. Through a morning session of presentations, a “Lunch N’ Learn” panel discussion, and an afternoon session, attendees will learn more about ARRIVE Together and Link 2 Care, including how best to utilize them locally. The event will also cover the development and production of the MCPO Resource Card for Recovery and Resource Card for Seniors, which feature contact information for a wide range of local organizations with a shared mission of addressin
