Yannick Wood, director of the criminal justice reform program at the New Jersey Institute For Social Justice, said he was “encouraged” by the preliminary findings of the program and suggested that New Jersey take pointers from a similar program in Eugene, Oregon, called CAHOOTS.
“We continue to urge New Jersey to implement a model like what’s being currently done in Eugene, Oregon, where for 30 years they’ve had mental health trained first responders in the community respond to people with all sorts of behavioral health issues, and they only require the police backup in 1% of cases,” Wood said.