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Home My WebLink AboutApproved JAC Meeting Minutes_2.27.26 Orange County Justice Advisory Council February 27, 2026—12:30 PM By MS Teams Members Present Board of County Commissioners Chair Jean Hamilton, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge R.Allen Baddour,Jr., District Attorney Jeff Nieman, Public Defender Woodrena Baker-Harrell,Clerk of Superior Court Mark Kleinschmidt, Chapel Hill Chief of Police Celesa Lewhew, Carrboro Chief of Police Chris Atack, UNC Chief of Police Brian James, Chief Magistrate Jennifer Hodgson, Department of Social Services Director Lindsey Shewmaker, Child Support Services Director Erica Bryant, Bishop Victor Glover, Chief Court Counselor Amanda Farris, Orange County School System Representative Jessica Dreher, Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System Representative Vickie Feaster Fornville, Compass Center Co-Director Bridget McEnaney, Housing Department Director Blake Rosser, and Partnership to End Homelessness Manager Danielle DeCaprio. Staff and Guests Present UNC School of Government Criminal Justice Innovation Lab Senior Project Manager Hannah Turner, NC Harm Reduction Coalition Law Enforcement Program Manager Lars Paul, North Carolina Association of County Commissioners Senior Program Manager Andrea Des Marais, NC Technical Assistance Center(NC-TAC) Program Coordinator Anna Wallin, Hillsborough Police Captain Richard Hooks, and CJRD staff Danielle Carman,Ted Dorsi,Tiffany Hall, Mitch Lucas, and Erin McGovern. Welcome and Introductions Everyone present introduced themselves.The minutes of the November 14,2025 meeting were approved by acclamation. Presentation: Report Evaluating the Crisis Assistance, Response, and Engagement (CARE)Team Turner shared a PowerPoint presentation,"CARE Team Pilot Evaluation Findings,"which is on file with CJRD.Turner said the Criminal Justice Innovation Lab worked with Lehew and others to support their evaluation of the CARE team's first year of operations(May 2024 through June 2025) in Chapel Hill. She explained that the team has two components—a Mobile Crisis Team that is comprised of a Mobile Crisis Counselor, EMT, and Peer Support Specialist, and a 911 Call Diversion Coordinator.This evaluation focused on the Mobile Crisis Team. Turner reviewed the data sources that were evaluated. She said the mobile team provides direct and secondary dispatch, as well as follow up and street outreach.Turmer said, of the 1,154 public interactions during the evaluation period, 26%were direct dispatch, 34%were secondary dispatch, and 40%were follow up.She added that her presentation would focus on the direct dispatches, and more than 47%of those received a CARE Team response. She reviewed the nature of those dispatches and the reasons for non-responses, noting that the most common reasons for a non-response were being logged out or busy on a different call. 1 Turner discussed the program's law enforcement outcomes, including six arrests,four citations, and 410 resource referrals. She said the team typically provided supportive services and then left the scene, rarely providing hospital transport.They did not abort any calls due to safety concerns and there were only four instances where a team member reported feeling unsafe. She said the CARE Team and law enforcement reported similar lengths of time responding to calls, and she discussed the savings in law enforcement time from the team's work.With respect to criminal justice outcomes, Turner said most CARE Team clients had no criminal history in the last two years. She said the CARE Team interaction alone was not enough to stop future criminal justice involvement, but that makes sense because the team is crisis-driven and is not designed to provide long-term case management or wrap-around services.She added that the team was only able to respond to less than half of the eligible direct dispatch calls, but that percentage should increase now that they have brought on a second team and expanded to Carrboro. Nieman said it is a win-win to decrease law enforcement interactions and free up police time for more serious offenses. He asked what happens if there is a disagreement between officers and the CARE Team about how to respond in a secondary dispatch situation. Lehew said the Chapel Hill Police Department has had a co-responder unit for so long that they have gotten skilled at deciding whether situations warrant a traditional or alternative response, and there have not been instances of disagreement.Atack said there need to be ongoing conversations and information exchange between officers and co-responder units. Bishop emphasized the important role of relationship building and mentors for those at risk of criminaljustice system involvement. Presentation: Pre-Arrest Diversion Handbook for NC Law Enforcement Des Marais and Paul shared a PowerPoint presentation,"Pre-Arrest Diversion in North Carolina:A Handbook for Law Enforcement Programs,"which is on file with CJRD. Des Marais described the work of NC-TAC's collaborative partners and its efforts to provide technical assistance to programs that support people at risk of incarceration and overdose. Paul said North Carolina's first pre-arrest Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program started in 2013 in Fayetteville as an alternative to arrests for low-level offenses.These programs are aimed at getting police back to being police, and they enable officers to make referrals and a warm hand-off to a case manager who can connect people to community-based services. He said studies have shown that this approach can reduce the burden on the system and have a significant impact on recidivism. If the individual being diverted does not engage with the referred programs,the officer can still file criminal charges so they are not a"get out of jail free"card. He said these programs are participant driven and routed in harm reduction philosophy, and they can lead to individualized treatment plans based on what motivates each participant. Paul said the new handbook is based on research about programs available around the country and tries to identify best practices that work in North Carolina. Des Marais said the handbook drew on practitioner experiences and a mixed-methods evaluation conducted by the Wilson Center several years ago of four North Carolina LEAD program sites.The evaluation revealed a dramatic decrease in citation and arrest rates before and after referral to a LEAD program, as well as more social referrals than arrest diversions. She said there was a dramatic difference between referral rates for black males compared to white females,which is something to keep an eye on with programs. She shared several stakeholder impact quotes. 2 Discussion: Future Topics and Presenters Carman asked for input from the Council members about any specific topics or presenters they would be interested in. Hamilton reviewed the Council's original charge and purposes. People shared the following interest areas: • Information about the handoff in providing services on the ground across multiple Orange County agencies and where there are gaps that need to be addressed. • Potential expanded services and diversion programming in schools for youth with high Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACEs)scores that could mitigate the school to prison pipeline. • How the Orange County school systems address youth mental health issues and provide mental health support to students. • How the work of this Council interacts with other groups focused on mitigating the school-to- prison pipeline, such as the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. • How to solidify and amplify what law enforcement is diverting people to when they do informal diversions, including identifying the full spectrum of service providers in the community. • Ways to provide meaningful longer-term case/care coordination for at-riskyouth after a crisis is resolved without violating confidentiality and privacy laws. How Alliance Health and/or the new Crisis Diversion facility might help provide that bridge between crisis intervention and long- term treatment and services. • Ways the justice system might engage more with the Dispute Settlement Center and innovative restorative justice solutions. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 1:48 PM. Next meeting scheduled for May 29, 2026. 3