Judge McBurney co-chairs the Justice Policy Board, which was instrumental in the creation of the Center for Diversion and services.
The Center for Diversion and Services expands non-arrest options for law enforcement in the City of Atlanta and across Fulton County by offering a place to take individuals who need support with mental health, problematic substance use, housing insecurity, poverty, and other challenges that put them at risk for arrest.
Instead of being arrested and being taken directly to jail or the emergency room, individuals will have the opportunity to connect with support and resources. The center will offer peer support, sobering rooms, showers, lockers, a kitchen, counseling services, housing resources, and laundry facilities.
Judge McBurney noted in his remarks at the grand opening that “We have for too long said, that’s a trespasser. That’s a drunk. That’s a homeless guy...We haven’t been thinking about, well, wait, that’s a person. It’s a person with a story. It’s a person with some problems, but that person isn’t the problem. That's a neighbor".