The Baltimore Police Department will begin directing individuals detained for low-level drug and prostitution offenses in the western half of downtown to support services rather than to jail under a three-year pilot program developed in partnership with local nonprofit organizations.
The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, known as LEAD, is based on an existing treatment model in Seattle and a handful of other cities across the country, and comes after more than a year of planning in Baltimore.
It also is in line with previous commitments by Police Commissioner Kevin Davis to find new ways to avoid "unnecessary incarceration" of those with mental illness or addiction, and with explicit directives in Baltimore’s proposed police reform agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
"All too often in our city and our country we handcuff, charge and incarcerate people who are addicted to drugs," Davis said during a news conference to announce the program.
Under the pilot program, police officers who detain individuals suspected of low-level drug offenses or prostitution in the program’s half-square-mile coverage area will be able to call case managers with Baltimore Crisis Response Inc. instead of booking the individuals on criminal charges. The case managers, under oversight by Behavioral Health System Baltimore, will then provide services including drug treatment, mental health services and housing aid, officials said.
The Baltimore Police Department, working with a local nonprofit organization, is planning an experimental program that would divert low-level drug offenders to treatment and support services while allowing them to avoid arrest.
The program, known as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, is part of…
The Baltimore Police Department, working with a local nonprofit organization, is planning an experimental program that would divert low-level drug offenders to treatment and support services while allowing them to avoid arrest.
The program, known as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, is part of…
"LEAD provides our officers with an alternative to arresting the same person over and over when we know that person needs help," Davis said in a statement. "Baltimore has an entrenched opioid addiction epidemic and we think it’s time to invest in a public-health approach instead of a criminal approach. We’re also hopeful that this will be another step in restoring more positive relationships between law enforcement and the community."
"The LEAD program represents an important paradigm shift in the way we approach helping people with substance use disorders," said Kathleen Westcoat, president and CEO of Behavioral Health System Baltimore. "Rather than responding with handcuffs, the LEAD program offers individuals a path to treatment and support services, which evidence shows is the more cost-effective approach to addressing substance use."
For Anthony Miles, Feb. 15, 2013, was a busy day of juggling calls, setting up meetings and touting a high-quality shipment he was expecting soon. Still, he found time to put air in the tires of his Mercedes and to note how well the day was going. Raising a large stack of bills in both hands, he…
For Anthony Miles, Feb. 15, 2013, was a busy day of juggling calls, setting up meetings and touting a high-quality shipment he was expecting soon. Still, he found time to put air in the tires of his Mercedes and to note how well the day was going. Raising a large stack of bills in both hands, he…
The program will focus on a portion of the city bound by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the west, St. Paul Street to the east, Franklin Street to the north and Pratt Street to the south. The area encompasses the University of Maryland Medical Center and surrounding hospital and university buildings, as well as the historic Lexington Market, which police in the past have described as "a well known open-air drug market."
Individuals in the program will not have to live in the coverage area to participate in the program, though referrals will originate from within the stated boundaries. Individuals can refuse to participate in the program, in which case they would be processed through the existing criminal justice system.
Officials expect the program to serve about 60 individuals at a time. The program is to be paid for with a mix of public and private funding. The cost was not immediately disclosed.
Other partners in the program include the Open Society Institute-Baltimore, the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, the Office of the Public Defender, the Lexington Market Merchants Association and the city.
The program is similar to existing alternatives to incarceration, including drug court, that offer treatment instead of jail sentences.
It is modeled on a program in Seattle, which like Baltimore faced reform mandates under a consent decree with the Justice Department after systemic abuse was identified. There, the program was associated with a significant reduction in recidivism among participants, officials said.
The Baltimore police first began considering the LEAD program in 2015, after Ganesha Martin — the then-chief of the community engagement division under then-Commissioner Anthony W. Batts — visited Seattle and saw a similar program operating there. Martin is now chief of the department’s Justice Department compliance division under Davis.
Baltimore’s proposed consent decree with the Justice Department is pending in court. It must be approved by a federal judge if it is to become binding, but that approval is expected.
The agreement requires the police department to revisit how it interacts with individuals with behavioral health issues or who are in "crisis," including by establishing "a preference for the least police-involved response possible consistent with public safety."
Hundreds of individuals die from heroin overdoses in Baltimore each year. Tens of thousands of individuals in the city are believed to have opioid abuse disorders. Thousands are locked up on low-level drug offenses.
The program comes as state officials have sought to reduce opioid abuse in the state, which has surged in recent years. Even as efforts to reduce incarceration of low-level offenders and addicts have increased, so have efforts to increase penalties for high-level offenders and dealers.
This story will be updated.
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