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The Richland County Sheriff's Office coordinated a 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team training drawing 18 students from 7 counties, including Fort Peck Tribes representatives, focused on mental health response and de-escalation through simulations, interactive drills, and specialists from local health and recovery resources.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office hosted a week of Crisis Intervention Team training for deputies the week of March 23 through March 27, reinforcing the office's commitment to equipping staff to handle mental health and crisis situations.

More than 40 local law enforcement members graduated from St. Joseph County's 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team certification, which trains first responders to better help people experiencing mental health crises and strengthens partnerships with mental health providers so people can be connected to care instead of jail.

The Oahu Post-Booking Jail Diversion Program reached a major milestone on March 18 when seven participants became its first Circuit Court graduates, with 42 people now enrolled across the Circuit Court and District Court programs. Rather than proceeding through traditional prosecution, qualifying pretrial participants are placed directly from jail into a mental health crisis stabilization unit or then transition to housing, behavioral health services, and substance use treatment.

Circuit Court Judge Ronald Johnson presented each graduate with a certificate of completion and a court order confirming their charges had been dismissed, saying each arrived at the milestone through hard work and dedication. The District Court program, which produced its first graduates in 2024, has seen none of its six graduates reoffend, and one graduate, Brenda, credited the program with helping her achieve sobriety after many failed attempts on her own

Fayetteville was the first police department in the South and fourth in the country to launch Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), which connects people suspected of low-level drug offenses with behavioral health treatment instead of jail, serving 140 people last year and contributing to a 10% drop in crime. The N.C. General Assembly allocated $1.5 million to expand LEAD statewide, with the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition helping several underserved counties and cities start or grow their own programs.

The expansion is part of Gov. Josh Stein's executive order directing state agencies to improve behavioral health care for those in the criminal justice system. State health officials hope every North Carolina county will eventually have LEAD or a similar program, though barriers including understaffed mental health hospitals and a shortage of mental health professionals across nearly every county remain significant obstacles.