Since 2021, Washtenaw County’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion and Deflection (LEADD) has provided officers with alternatives to arrest and citation for people who have committed, or are at-risk of committing, violations related to mental illness, substance abuse, or chronic poverty.
LEADD instead works to address the underlying needs of individuals engaged in low-level criminal behavior due to social and behavioral health needs, and provide them with low-barrier case management and connection to essential community services.
In 2024, 10 individuals were referred to the LEADD program. Half of those individuals were “social contact referrals”—made by community members as a preventative measure—and half were pre-arrest diversions.
In 2022, the Co-Response Unit launched as a pilot in Ypsilanti Township. The program featured a Washtenaw County Community Mental Health Social Worker and a Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office deputy riding together in one car, co-responding to mental health calls in the community. The team works together to identify individuals’ immediate needs and provide or refer them to the appropriate resources.
In 2024, the pilot expanded to serve all of Washtenaw County, and the team served 10 cities and regions.
Washtenaw County’s Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) aims to peacefully deescalate potentially dangerous crisis situations through a engagement, deescalation, dialogue, and negotiation.
Since 2019, mental health professionals at Washtenaw County Community Mental Health serve on the multidisciplinary CNT to conduct risk assessments for violence and suicidality, provide medical and mental health information to improve decision-making and outcome, and help develop negotiation strategies.
Millage dollars are helping Washtenaw County leaders work towards a comprehensive youth justice system that will prevent youth from entering juvenile justice and child welfare systems, instead connecting them to appropriate community care based on their underlying needs.
In April of 2024, 69 representatives from a variety of community organizations came together to discuss plans to launch a youth assessment center in Washtenaw County and build a referral network of medical providers, social service agencies, and community organizations. The evidence-based center would serve as a centralized contact point for youth at-risk of being involved in the juvenile justice or welfare systems, identifying their individual needs, and connecting them to appropriate support.
With millage funds, the county also brought on Wayne State University’s Center for Behavioral Health and Justice to help produce a report outlining ways to braid together multiple current projects focused on youth justice reform. The ultimate goal is to transform the youth justice landscape through a collaborative, systemic approach.
