King County is working on a jail diversion facility for the mentally ill who commit minor crimes (story, this page), so why not a pre-booking jail diversion program for the addicted?
That's what the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and The Defender Association's Racial Disparity Project are advocating in Seattle, where they are trying to raise grant money for two demonstration pilots, one in Belltown and one in Skyway.
"We are proposing that the city of Seattle and King County use booking and filing criminal charges as the tactic of last resort in dealing with low-level drug crime," says Defender Association attorney Lisa Daugaard, who argues that the city's plan to build a new jail is unwarranted. "Instead, we propose that law enforcement be given the option of diverting a suspect directly to a community-based intervention program."
The King County sheriff's office has endorsed the proposal in a letter sent to King County Executive Ron Sims. But Mayor Nickels is reportedly not a fan of the idea, which was inspired by Rainier Beach's Clean Dreams program, which offers people treatment and services to get off the street.
"People weren't born living that way," says Belltown Community Council President Zander Batchelder, who supports the pilot idea. "They just found themselves in that spiral, and we need to find a way to get them out."