Annapolis resident to head city police diversion program
Annapolis has hired a city native to manage a grant-funded police diversion program to help get nonviolent offenders out of the criminal justice system.
Katy Edwards has been named the project manager of the LawEnforcement Assisted Diversion, otherwise known as the L.E.A.D. Program.
The program is meant to divert people who have committed non-violent or victimless crimes out of the criminal justice system and into contact with social servicesworkers.
“At one point in time, the L.E.A.D. program presented a radical change in the way civilians and police worked together,” Mayor Gavin Buckley said in a news release announcing the hiring. “This program is ripe for our time and ripe for our City. It’s not a radical concept any longer.”
Edwards started the day before Thanksgiving. She will start her contract by writing the program and begin implementing the program during the next funding cycle, according to the release.
Gov. Larry Hogan’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention awarded a $528,000 grant in September for the three-year program.
“My family has been here for 50 years with a legacy ofcommunityinvolvement that I’m excited to continue,” Edwards said. “The aim of the program will be to empower individuals for the long haul. Of course, that’s useful at any time, but it is especially crucial around the economic uncertainty of this pandemic time period.”
Edwards is a graduate of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NewMexico. She has previously worked in program management for substance abuse treatment among adolescents and outreach to homeless youth. Until recently, she was the Lighthouse Shelter’s Workforce Grants Administrator.
Edwards will earn $37,500 on an approximately six-month contract that lasts until June.