(L-R) MHA Co-Responder Adam Weckenmann, First Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood, Prosecutor Robert Carroll, MHA Co-Responder Andrea Hammerle, MHA Chief Executive Officer Robert Davison, Hanover Township Chief Michael Loock, Randolph Township Chief William Harzula, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Meg Rodriguez, and MHA ARRIVE Director Deanna Ackerman.
Morris County Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll, First Assistant Prosecutor Maggie Calderwood, Chief of Detectives Robert McNally, Hanover Township Police Chief Michael Loock, and Randolph Police Chief Will Harzula announce Morris County’s regional ARRIVE Together program has expanded to Hanover Township and Randolph Township
This is the third pilot program that is operating in Morris County. The first included police departments in Madison, Morristown, Morris Township, and Morris Plains. The second included Denville, Montville, Parsippany, and Roxbury.
Partnering with the Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris Counties, the ARRIVE Together program (Alternative Responses to Reduce Instances of Violence & Escalation) seeks to help police de-escalate situations, provide immediate and follow-up support to individuals in crisis and ensure the safety of both the community and the responding officers. Clinicians from the Mental Health Association (MHA) have been working with participating municipal police departments to offer assistance to adults and juveniles and their families to connect with a range of supportive services, including not only behavioral and mental health access, but also substance use treatment, housing assistance and related issues to help reduce the likelihood of future interactions with law enforcement and greater success in improving their health and well-being.
ARRIVE Together - Morris is currently active in Madison, Denville, Hanover, Montville, Morris Plains, Morris Township, Morristown, Parsippany, Randolph and Roxbury. The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office is working towards expanding the program throughout the entire county to enhance law enforcement’s responses to those in need.
Funding for the programming is being provided through an appropriation in the state budget, facilitated by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.
According to the Office of the Attorney General’s ARRIVE Together Data Dashboard, as of the end of September, Morris County has had a total of 417 ARRIVE Together interactions since December 2021.
Members of the ARRIVE Together program have been active in engaging in community outreach throughout Morris County, attending services at Union Baptist Church in Morristown on September 15, 2024, Bottle Hill Day in Madison on October 5, 2024, and National Coming Out Day in Morristown on October 12, 2024.
Recently, Prosecutor Carroll and members of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office attended MHA’s 6th Annual Legislative Breakfast on October 18, 2024, in Florham Park, where Prosecutor Carroll spoke to the importance of the ARRIVE program and the positive impact it has on law enforcement and the members of the community.
Prosecutor Carroll said, “Law enforcement’s response to subjects experiencing a mental health crisis is evolving. Alongside our Crisis Intervention Training and MCPO’s Mental Health and Veteran’s Diversion Program, ARRIVE Together is evidence of significant advancement. We are already experiencing positive results from this unifying relationship between law enforcement and the Mental Health Association. I am extremely confident that the expansion of response tools will continue to have a positive impact on subjects in crisis, connecting them with the best possible remedial alternatives.”