Atlanta city officials recently broke ground on The Center for Diversion and Services that 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. Staff at the facility will help those dealing with issues around mental health, substance use or poverty.
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Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said the 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.”