The Path Forward: Community mindset key to success of diversion program – Las Vegas Optic

The former home of the Human Services Department is being repurposed to house an inpatient drug treatment center in Las Vegas.

Editors note: The following is part of an ongoing series on the roots of addiction in San Miguel and Mora counties, and the solutions being pursued by local leaders in an effort to help those suffering from addiction.

Officials in Las Vegas and San Miguel County are moving forward with plans to launch a criminal diversion program aimed at helping people who are struggling with substance use. The program, known as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, was launched a decade ago in Seattle, but those behind the national program have found success in small towns as well.

Brendan Cox, the director of policing strategies for LEAD National Support, told the Optic that achieving success in smaller communities requires a change in mindsets from those in law enforcement, and from members of the community.

LEAD is taking a very different approach. LEAD is saying were not going to punish people, were not going to coerce people, and thats one of the keys, Cox said. Were offering help.

Under LEAD, that help begins with law enforcement officers in the community. Upon encountering someone struggling with addiction who has committed a non-violent crime, the officer can choose to divert them into the LEAD program instead of arresting them. LEAD caseworkers can then connect the person with a variety of services, including housing or addiction treatment.

Once someone is accepted into treatment, any criminal charges theyre facing are deferred as they begin the program. After completing the intake process, the diverted charges are dismissed altogether.

The decision to arrest or divert someone into the program is always at the law enforcement officers discretion, and certain criminal charges automatically disqualify someone from being eligible for the program, for instance, violent crimes or the sale of illegal narcotics.

Leadership within the Las Vegas Police Department and the San Miguel County Sheriffs Office have announced support for the implementation of LEAD, and county leaders are working to convert a building on Hot Springs Boulevard, near the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute, into a treatment facility that would offer a substance abuse treatment program.

With strong support from these agencies, and the Fourth Judicial District Attorneys office, Las Vegas LEAD program is beginning to take shape; however Cox, a retired police chief from Albany, New York, said another key component in launching a successful LEAD program is having strong support from the community. He also acknowledged that support can sometimes be difficult to attain because of the way law enforcement and courts have treated substance use and addiction in the past.

We need to get into the community and talk through this and recognize that for 50-plus years, weve had a war on the people of our community a war that we never should have had especially against people of color by white people, like me, Cox said. We need to recognize that, and change that.

Because of the current approach to substance use in communities in the U.S., and the harm the approach has caused, Cox said program managers often encounter resistance from potential program participants that results in some people refusing help.

Weve done so much damage, weve created so much trauma in our communities, that people dont want to take the olive branch of help from law enforcement because theyre afraid of the message that sends, he said. I think its difficult enough for law enforcement folks to change, but I think we also have to accept and understand why the community has a hard time understanding it. We have beaten our communities up with the war on drugs for over 50 years now.

The snitch label

One major hurdle encountered by LEAD program managers, especially in small communities, is a resistance to accepting help for fear that program managers and case workers will expect information on other crimes in exchange for the diversion of criminal charges. Those behind the program stressed the label is completely false.

Carey Deacon, program director for the LEAD program in Alamosa, Colorado, said that its a delicate balance because LEAD case workers must have relationships with members in law enforcement in order for the program to work, but she said those relationships do not require case workers to share personal information about program participants, or any illegal activity theyve been involved with.

Were trying to build better relationships with law enforcement and our participants, but its not like were divulging their life stories or their secrets, or anything that might get them in more trouble, she said.

The biggest problem with the false label is that it prevents people from accepting help from the program, and oftentimes, the people who refuse help are the ones who could benefit the most from LEAD, Cox with LEAD National Support said. One reason the snitch label is often applied in small communities is that more people are aware of whats happening in town.

When people see an interaction between law enforcement and somebody that is known to the community as someone whos involved in criminal activity, and suddenly they see that person still out in the community or they dont see that person arrested then they make an assumption that the person must have given somebody information, and thats why theyre still out, Cox said.

Unlike other programs, having a relapse or another setback doesnt result in a program participant being kicked out, either. Instead, LEAD is about giving people an option to receive help rather than forcing them to complete a program while a criminal charge is held over their head for years.

No one can ever be worse off for being in LEAD, Cox said. No information thats shared is ever to be punitive is ever to be in a fashion that were trying to use against the person. Its shared because were trying to reduce barriers that are in the way.

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The Path Forward: Community mindset key to success of diversion program - Las Vegas Optic