A Kane In Your Corner investigation finds a state program, intended to reduce the use of police force against people with mental illness, is not being used in some of the cases where advocates say it’s most desperately needed.

Deborah Terrell was shot and killed by New Brunswick police in August inside the senior housing complex where she lived. Terrell suffered from bipolar disorder, and police responded after being told she had a knife and had threatened a neighbor.

The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General is currently investigating the shooting, but Terrell’s family questions why no mental health provider was present on the day she was killed. New Brunswick is one of over 300 municipalities in New Jersey that participate in ARRIVE Together, a program that pairs police officers with mental health providers.

“That would have made all the difference to have a mental health specialist on a scene with her,” says Terrell’s nephew, Tormel Pittman. “That's the purpose, so things like this don't happen.”

“Why not wait another 30 minutes or another hour until the people arrive on the stage who are professionally trained to deal with that kind of issue?” echoes Larry Hamm, a civil rights activist who chairs the People’s Organization for Progress.

But a Kane In Your Corner investigation finds New Brunswick Police Department policy explicitly forbids the use of ARRIVE Together to help people like Deborah Terrell. The policy states that “under no circumstances will the ARRIVE team be dispatched to a call for a person with a weapon.”

Kane In Your Corner also found that, despite its name, ARRIVE Together rarely means that police and mental health providers actually arrive together. State data shows that kind of deployment, known as a “co-response,” only happens 19% of the time. In 39% of cases, police arrive first, then call mental health providers. And 36% of the time, social workers don’t go to the scene at all; they merely provide follow-up after the incident is completely over.

Matthew Camarda, of the National Mental Illness Alliance, explains that ARRIVE Together is “multi-model, so in some cases, that involves a mental health professional going with a police officer, but often it means they're following up after the fact.”

Camarda also notes that staffing is a challenge.

“A lot of these programs don’t operate 24-7,” he says. “They’re operating at specific times of day or evening.”

The data indicate that when it is used, ARRIVE Together can be effective. A study from the Brookings Institute found that 97% of mental health incidents were handled without force, which is why some in law enforcement say the program needs to be fully implemented.

“The police officers I speak to are OK if the mental health folks show up first,” says Brian Higgins, a former Bergen County police chief who now serves as a law enforcement analyst.

Higgins says not every mental health call will require a police response, but when one does – especially if a suspect is armed or potentially violent – officers need all the help they can get.

“The police are being thrown into this situation where all other options have been unsuccessful,” Higgins says. "And then they're told after the fact, ‘Well, if a mental health professional was there’… they are second-guessed.”

Neither New Brunswick police nor the NJOAG would comment on the Terrell case, since that incident is under investigation. But, in a written statement, an NJOAG spokesperson confirms that “not all calls with a potential mental health component involve ARRIVE – in part because of limitations on available resources, and in part because, at the behest of the program’s partners, licensed social workers and mental health providers are not put in danger.”

Tormel Pittman says he hopes his aunt’s death is a catalyst for positive change.

“Never again,” he says. “You know, just never again… No family should be trying to figure this out like our family is.”