Police-clinician teams now cover most of the county, but the public figures measure contacts, not unique people or proof that the program caused a particular outcome.
MORRISTOWN, N.J. – Morris County recorded 3,669 ARRIVE Together interactions through August 5, more than any other New Jersey county, according to figures released as officials marked the first anniversary of the program’s countywide expansion.
ARRIVE stands for Alternative Responses to Reduce Instances of Violence and Escalation. The program connects licensed mental-health clinicians with police calls involving a person experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis. Clinicians may respond with officers, join remotely or follow up after the immediate call.
Morris County launched its program in November 2023 through the county prosecutor’s office and the Mental Health Association. Pilot operations began in March 2024 in Morristown, Morris Plains, Morris Township, Madison, Montville, Denville, Parsippany-Troy Hills and Roxbury. Hanover and Randolph were added later that year, and the program reached most of the county in July 2025.
Statewide, more than 20,000 interactions had been recorded by Aug. 5. An interaction is not the same as a unique person, an arrest diverted or an emergency resolved. The state’s dashboard definition includes an in-person, virtual, telephone or follow-up response after an ARRIVE team is requested.
County officials described several recent interventions, including a clinician helping officers persuade a suicidal person to step away from the ledge of a parking garage and assisting during a traffic stop involving an autistic driver who would not leave his vehicle. Clinicians also have provided grief counseling and support after traumatic incidents.
The program includes a critical-incident model that makes a qualified mental-health professional available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for certain high-risk calls.
Madison Police Chief John Miscia, president of the county police chiefs association, said use of force during mental-health calls has fallen sharply since ARRIVE began. The county announcement, however, did not provide a local before-and-after figure for use of force, arrests, hospital transports, repeat calls or long-term connection to care.
A May analysis by the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy adds useful statewide context. Researchers examined more than 13,000 ARRIVE reports recorded from May 2023 through March 5, 2026. Most documented interactions involved follow-up rather than an on-scene co-response.
Among the 72.2 percent of reports with a recorded law-enforcement outcome, 54.7 percent ended with a community-based resolution or mental-health referral, 25 percent involved voluntary hospital transport and 22.8 percent involved involuntary transport. Categories could overlap.
The Rutgers analysis also identified limits in the public data. There is no comparison group of similar calls handled without ARRIVE, so the dashboard cannot prove the program caused lower arrest or force rates. Public records also do not connect demographic data to individual outcomes or provide enough local detail to evaluate differences among municipalities.
The new Morris County total shows that the service is being used frequently. The next measure of accountability is whether county officials publish consistent local outcomes, costs, repeat-contact rates and links to continuing care, not just a cumulative interaction count.