Instead of arresting people accused of low-level drug crimes, Fayetteville police are about to adopt a program that aims to get them the treatment and services they need.
The program's primary goal is to help nonviolent drug abusers become productive members of the community by breaking the cycle that continually lands them before a judge.
"If we can get somebody sober and get them clean and have them get productive, I want to do that," Police Chief Harold Medlock said.
Fayetteville is expected to become the first city in the South, and the fourth in the country, to use the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion initiative - or LEAD.
Under the program, which began in Seattle in 2011, police will collaborate with multiple agencies and organizations to help people get back on their feet without fear of prosecution.
That means those people could be offered drug treatment, housing, food, clothing, transportation, job training, psychological counseling and other services.
The program appears to be working in a downtown Seattle neighborhood called Belltown, where it was first tried. An initial evaluation of the program published this year by the University of Washington found that participants were 58 percent less likely to be arrested than a control group. It also found a significant savings in criminal justice costs.
[For more of this story, written by Greg Barnes, go to http://www.fayobserver.com/new...9e-338dc7558fc4.html]
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