Creating a Community of Care

Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash

Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash

For some of our community members, untreated substance use disorders, behavioral health needs, and poverty lead to a path toward the criminal justice system. When we can safely and appropriately provide treatment and interventions instead of incarceration, we can create a community that is both healthier and safer. The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program is designed to do just that - to provide access to treatment and social services while still being accountable to public safety. Evaluations have shown that participants in LEAD are 58% less likely to return to jail for this behavior than non-participants, creating a safer community and better health outcomes.

To support these community efforts, the Chuckanut Health Foundation has established a fund for the LEAD program. We invite you to consider supporting this program too. You can donate online, by mail, or over the phone. Click here to donate through PayPal or with a credit or debit card.

 
 

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is a community-based diversion program with the goals of improving public safety and public health, and reducing unnecessary justice system involvement of people who participate in the program. In a LEAD arrest diversion program, police officers have the option to divert individuals to a community-based intervention for law violations driven by unmet behavioral health needs or poverty. LEAD was first launched in Seattle, WA in 2011 as a new harm-reduction oriented process for responding to low-level offenses.

The Whatcom LEAD Program will operate as part of the GRACE (Ground-level Response And Coordinated Engagement) Program. GRACE is designed to provide intensive care coordination services to individuals who frequently use the crisis response system and law enforcement in ineffective ways. The general goals of the LEAD program are to: 1) improve public safety and public order, 2) reduce law violations by individuals who participate in the program 3) help individuals achieve stability in their communities.

LEAD community partners include, but are not necessarily limited to: the Whatcom County Health Department, the City of Bellingham, law enforcement agencies and jurisdictions throughout all of Whatcom County, the Whatcom County jail, small cities, tribal nations, service providers, and elected officials.

Watch the Community Forum on the Whatcom County LEAD Program here!

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion from timmatsui.com on Vimeo.

A conversation between a LEAD client, Seattle cop, and a case manager on their experience as some of the first participants in an innovative harm reduction program.

The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is a harm reduction program started in Seattle. Instead of incarcerating low level, repeat drug offenders, LEAD is a pre-booking diversion program treating addiction as a public health issue by connecting addicts to treatment services.

Its success brought the attention of the Obama White House who invited LEAD organizers to share the program with police chiefs, prosecutors, social workers and policy makers from across the country.

This film was screened during the White House convening and continues to be used nationally as a primer on the LEAD program.

Learn more at http://leadkingcounty.org