Parpos: A jail diversion program’s record of success

Fifteen months ago, five Dallas police officers were ambushed and killed for the color of their uniform. That day marked the single deadliest day for law enforcement since 9/11. And since that day, the landscape of policing in our country drastically changed.

The war on police has yet to dissipate. According to NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, in 2017, officer deaths are already up 18 percent.

Cops no longer go on shift and just do their job; they simultaneously fight the elements of a society that has turned against them. Perhaps the number of cop-haters willing to kill falls in the minority, but as Rich Emberlin, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, states, ”...the vocal minority is loud, and the silent majority doesn’t come to our defense. A better understanding and humanization of the profession can help combat the anti-police climate.”

Seven days after the Dallas police massacre, I went on a ride-along with the Framingham Police Department. You may recall the reflections I wrote about – of the incredible sacrifices our law enforcement and their families make – of the insane way they live with death constantly knocking at their door as the blue brands a bulls-eye on their backs – and of how unfathomably difficult it is to live in a state of hypervigilance that never wanes.

Now I come, once again, to help break the silence of that majority that Emberlin talks about because I’ve had that honor of a civilian’s insider perspective. And though it existed in the brevity of that 4 p.m. – 12 a.m. shift, being confined to that targeted space will move a person to unceasingly stand for those that courageously run towards violence when it erupts while the rest of us flee from it.

And with respect to our local law enforcement, what many in our community are unaware of is just how on the cutting edge of policing the Framingham Police Department is with some of its initiatives. Case in point, the Advocates Jail Diversion Program (JDP).

In 2003, the first Pre-Arrest Co-Responder Jail Diversion Program in New England was launched at the Framingham Police Department. This initiative embeds full-time masters-level clinicians in the police department that ride-along with the officers.

Such a program model, where both law enforcement and a mental health specialist co-respond to a call, has resulted in a cost savings of $3,324,000 – that’s reflective of the arrest diversions in Framingham alone since the program’s inception almost fifteen years ago.

Advocates has successfully replicated the program in several additional police departments in the area, including Marlborough, Watertown and Ashland. And looking to the future, the award-winning model is set to further expand in communities such as Hudson and Sudbury.

The statistics across all JDP programs are affirmation of how effective the model is – in terms of cost savings as it relates to both arrest diversions and emergency department services. But what separates our local law enforcement and puts FPD at the forefront of policing is that our community was the first to spear-head the initiative. And the clinician that was present at the launch of the program is the one still pioneering it today.

JDP Program Director Sarah Abbott, Ph.D., and FPD had no road map – a “script” for the co-responder model was non-existent; however, what was evident was how beneficial to the entire community it would be to have a means of immediately diverting low-level offenders away from arrest and into treatment.

The ride-along component is essential to the Jail Diversion Program. In partnering police officers with clinicians on the calls involving mental health or substance abuse, there is an opportunity to de-escalate a situation and stabilize a crisis rather than just have the clinicians serve as a follow-up in the aftermath.