Both courts and police departments have had difficulty in coping with increased juvenile crime. This paper describes a program of collaboration between law enforcement and social services which illustrates a developing trend in the management of youthful offenders. In a suburban Conneticut community (Hamden), the police department regularly utilizes the municipal mental health agency to receive substantial numbers of youthful offenders diverted form the juvenile justice system. Under the auspices of a federal grant, mental health and police representative have aslo developed guidelines for making diversionary decisions and recruited other agencies to receive referrals. Other communities are currently building collaborative relationships and diversionary projects based on the Hamden model. (Author)