LISTEN: Atlanta City officials announced the city's new Center for Diversion and Services that will serve as an alternative to sending people to jails and emergency rooms. GPB’s Amanda Andrews has more.

Atlanta city officials recently broke ground on The Center for Diversion and Services. It will serve as an alternative resource for people who would usually be sent to jails and emergency rooms.

The center is a partnership between Grady Memorial Hospital and the Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative (PAD). Staff at the facility will help those dealing with issues around mental health, substance use or poverty.  

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said this center will address the limits of the criminal justice system.

“The system has fallen short of assisting those who are in that state and encountering our police officers because of poverty, substance abuse, and mental health crisis,” he said. “In 2021, the men and women that protect you on the APD responded to over 9,000 calls of a person in a mental health crisis.”

Peer specialists will provide basics like food and showers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They will also work with local agencies to help provide long-term resources like health care and housing.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney co-chairs the Fulton County Justice Policy Board, which supports the Diversion center. He said now Fulton County has resources available beyond just calling 911.

“We’ve evolved and we now have 311 and 988 and PAD and Grady and mobile response units and officers who are trained deeply and regularly in alternative resolutions, crisis management, McBurney said.”

An estimated 3% of the Fulton jail population is held on low-level charges associated with homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse. The new center is expected to open in 2024.

Tags: Georgia  Atlanta  apd