Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes, Clifton Police Chief Thomas Rinaldi, and St. Joseph’s Health President and CEO Dr. Dustin M. Riccio announce the upcoming launch of the highly regarded ARRIVE Together program in the City of Clifton.
The ARRIVE Together program, which stands for Alternative Responses To Reduce Instances of Violence and Escalation, is aimed to provide individuals in crisis with assistance as quickly and effectively as possible by teaming up a police officer, specifically trained in crisis intervention, with a mental health screener to respond to 9-1-1 calls relating to a mental health crisis. The ARRIVE Together team can also be requested by patrol officers to the scene when they recognize an individual who may potentially benefit from the team’s intervention or by a third party requesting a welfare check. The ARRIVE Together team will follow up on these calls to ensure that the individual is doing well and does not need additional mental health support.
Connecting law enforcement officers with mental health clinicians may lead to safer outcomes with fewer instances of use of force, arrests, and injuries; may save wait time and mat prevent situations from escalating when an officer and mental health professional respond together; may decrease chances of individuals being unnecessarily taken to the hospital; and may help improve trust between law enforcement and community.
The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, Clifton Police Department and St. Joseph’s Health invites the public and community stakeholders to an open forum about the ARRIVE Together Program at 7:00 p.m. on January 31, 2024, at Clifton High School located on 333 Colfax Ave, Clifton, NJ 07013. Representatives from all three partner agencies will be on hand for the open discussion.
Please find the attached flyer for more information. For media inquiries regarding the Arrive Together program, contact Senior Assistant Prosecutor Bulent Can of the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office at BCan@passaiccountynj.org or at (973) 881-4819.