S.F. LEAD program’s goal: Keep offenders from jail
San Francisco is looking to build upon its efforts to steer low-level drug offenders away from incarceration and to reduce recidivism rates after receiving a $5.9 million state grant that will be used to create a new prebooking diversion program.
Drawing on expertise and resources from various city agencies and community groups, the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, known as LEAD, will give offenders the option of enrolling in health and social services programs, rather than spending time in jail.
“We have a lot of diversion programs that keep people from staying in jail too long, but this one is different because it diverts people before they get charges on their record,” said Colleen Chawla, deputy director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, an agency that will play a central role in administering the LEAD initiative.
The program, funded by a grant from the California Board of State and Community Corrections, will be overseen by a policy committee composed of city Director of Health Barbara Garcia, Police Chief Bill Scott and District Attorney George Gascón.
“The incarceration of low-level and nonviolent offenders undermines public health and safety over the long term,” San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement. “In San Francisco, we have made major strides to rebuild a smart and thoughtful criminal justice system through investments in alternatives to incarceration . ... The success of these programs is promising and has prompted the city to bolster our investments and explore proven innovations such as LEAD.”
Beginning in August or September, officers from the San Francisco Police Department and BART police will offer LEAD options to individuals who would otherwise face charges for possession or sale of a controlled substance, being under the influence of a controlled substance or prostitution.
Instead of facing arrest and prosecution, individuals who choose to enroll in the program can get help from case managers to gain access to public benefit programs, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, employment opportunities and housing options.
Katherine Katcher, the founder and executive director of Root & Rebound, which assists people leaving incarceration, said she was heartened by the goal of working with offenders before they are arrested, as opposed to after their convictions. “That is an amazing step and something that is a model other police departments can follow,” she said.
The bulk of the services will be coordinated through the city’s Community Assessment and Services Center, which provides probation programs and assistance to individuals getting out of jail and others seeking support services. The largest portion of the LEAD grant from the state’s board of corrections — $1 million — will go toward keeping the center open around the clock.
Training programs for SFPD and BART officers are still being developed, Chawla said, but law enforcement will be initially focusing on the city’s Mission District and Tenderloin. San Francisco sheriff ’s deputies can also refer people to the program.
“In San Francisco, there is a lot of infrastructure being poured in by the mayor to really address these issues in a more holistic way and take the burden off of using the criminal justice system and enforcement to solve these problems, which I believe is the right way to go,” said Scott. He added that though the grant money will only fund the program for two years, if successful, he would work to make it permanent.
“If things go well — and we have a good chance of success — why wouldn’t we want to do it more? Who could argue with it?” he said.
San Francisco’s LEAD initiative will be closely modeled after a program of the same name launched in Seattle in 2011.
Lisa Daugaard, who oversees LEAD in Seattle said that nearly six years on, the program has “gone extremely well and there’s still nearly universal enthusiasm and support for this (diversion) approach. A lot of communities that don’t currently have LEAD are asking for an expansion into their neighborhoods.”
Lee’s proposed twoyear budget for San Francisco also includes new funds aimed at easing inmate re-entry and reducing the amount of time individuals spend in jail. The proposed budget sets aside $700,000 for the Pretrial Diversion Project, a nonprofit that contracts with the Sheriff ’s Department. An additional $1 million is set for the sheriff ’s electronic monitoring program, which is meant to encourage judges to allow people to be released on their own recognizance after their arrest.
The proposed budget also allocates $368,000 for the public defender’s office to hire two attorneys and an investigator to work with courts and the diversion project within the Sheriff ’s Department to ensure a continuity of services for people being sentenced or released from jail.
The San Francisco district attorney’s office would also receive an extra $588,000 to hire staff to oversee weekend booking to help prevent people from waiting in jail while the city decides whether to file charges.