Centre County Criminal Justice Advisory Board Receives Honor

The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency recognized Centre County’s Criminal Justice Advisory Board (CJAB) with a statewide honor in early April at its annual conference in State College.

Centre County CJAB received the Best Practices Award. It was selected from among 67 advisory boards in Pennsylvania for efforts including:

• Stepping Up Initiatives — A national initiative to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jails/prisons;

• Behavioral Health Court — A collaboration of criminal justice and mental health systems aimed at providing structured mental health treatment and supervision to criminal offenders with serious mental illness diagnoses;

• Centre County Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)— Biannual trainings offered to first responders, such as law enforcement officers, mental health professionals, and emergency medical staff among others;

• Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative —Collaborations with community agencies to alleviate the effects of substance use, the opiate epidemic, and overdoses;

• Reentry Coalition—A task force with the goal of reducing recidivism and enhancing the successful return of people into the community.

Centre County commissioners recognized members of the CJAB during their meeting on April 16, where they were joined by Court of Common Pleas Judge Brian Marshall and Karri Hull, criminal justice planning director.

“Congratulations for all your good work,” Board of Commissioners Vice-Chair Amber Concepcion said. “I think we’ve got such a dedicated staff… doing the strategic planning and bringing all of these pieces together. We’re proud of the work you all are doing.”

Formed in 1999, the Centre County CJAB’s mission is to provide an ongoing forum for communication and collaboration among key decision-makers for evaluating, analyzing, planning and recommending action to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the county’s criminal justice system and the individuals it serves.