By Travis Taniguchi, Alexandra Johnson and Leah Hardenbergh
Pre-booking diversion programs, such as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), seek to move people out of the criminal legal system before they are arrested or booked into jail. People who are diverted are often experiencing high levels of homelessness, mental health disorders and substance use. They have frequent interactions with law enforcement, often for lower-level crimes such as drug possession, trespassing and loitering. The complex challenges faced by these people mean they can benefit from coordinated care that includes housing assistance and behavioral health treatment, both of which are not readily available through the criminal legal system. Numerous evaluations have demonstrated that pre-booking diversion programs can reduce recidivism, decrease operational demands on law enforcement and reduce burdens on courts and incarceration.
As part of a study of diversion programs in Washington state, we interviewed technical assistance providers, program providers and law enforcement personnel. Our study (available in full below) recently published to the Washington State Legislature, found that officers were still skeptical and reluctant to divert people in lieu of arrest. Interviews with law enforcement officers suggested that reluctance to embrace diversion programs was based on the belief that the programs were not effective, that they were too burdensome or that clients were abusing the system to avoid accountability for their actions.
We reviewed participant feedback to identify actionable steps that law enforcement agencies could take to support the adoption of diversion programs. Participants had the following suggestions.
- Empower officers to make diversion decisions – Officers should have the discretion to make a referral, or not, based on the person and situation. Supervisors should minimize second-guessing referral decisions.
- Streamline the handoff process – Handoff to diversion programs should be simple and designed to reduce officer burden. If there are sufficient resources, diversion handoff should be done in the field. Efforts should be made to minimize how much information officers must collect at the time of referral. Instead, the referral should focus on essential information needed to identify and follow up with a potential client.
- Encourage and empower program champions – Although leadership support of diversion is critical, agencies must also have program champions among officers and other non-executive staff. These individuals can be essential to facilitating adoption among patrol officers.
- Solicit feedback – Create opportunities for officers to provide feedback on how the diversion process operates. Officers can identify ways to make referrals more effective and efficient and identify program needs. Incorporating feedback can improve officer buy-in and reduce reluctance toward implementing diversion.
- Engage with diversion staff – To build partnerships, there should be opportunities for officers and diversion staff to interact. This can include activities such as inviting diversion staff to shift briefings and encouraging ride-alongs.
- Participate in stakeholder meetings – Pre-booking diversion programs often have stakeholder meetings comprised of law enforcement, prosecutors and behavioral service providers. Agencies should designate someone to participate in these meetings.
- Track referrals – Create an easy method to track when diversion referrals have been made. This can be incorporated as a performance measure and into officer performance reviews.
- Collect and share success stories – Officers tend to express cynicism toward diversion program effectiveness. To promote long-term success, agencies should share success stories. Seeing the direct impact of diversion programs on people can improve buy-in and adoption.
- Learn from others and share agency experiences – Participate in opportunities to share experiences with other law enforcement agencies. All agencies develop unique processes and strategies that can be helpful for others. You can also learn how to address challenges that other agencies have already encountered.
- Provide training on the process of recovery and harm reduction strategies – Diversion programs operate through a harm reduction framework that provides support even if clients do not abstain from substance use. Recovering from a substance use disorder may require repeated attempts. Relapses and setbacks are common and should be expected. Training officers on the nature of recovery from substance use and harm reduction principles can be useful for facilitating buy-in. Providing training to officers on the process of recovery can help set appropriate expectations about desistance from substance use.
Pre-booking diversion programs can be highly effective in improving community safety and well-being. The strategies identified by our research participants may help your agency better implement and support pre-booking diversion programs in your community.
About the authors
Travis Taniguchi is a research criminologist and senior research associate at the Washington State Institute for Public Policy. His research focuses on program and policy evaluations in areas such as community safety, health and wellness of law enforcement officers, and recruiting and retention in public service careers.
Alexandra Johnson is a senior climate and environmental policy analyst at the Duwamish River Community Coalition. Her experiences focus on environmental justice and health equity policy as well as other intertwining aspects of public health.
Leah Hardenbergh is a research associate at the Washington State Institute for Public Policy. She received her MPH from the University of Washington, and has research experience in the intersection between public health and other systems.
