An Article by Jac Charlier
The Crime Report (3/21/2017)

Law enforcement officers know the routine well. They encounter someone who has a drug addiction or a mental health problem. Sometimes they stop the person for a low-level offense, such as drug possession, petty theft, or vagrancy.

Sometimes this might mean arrest, but often it means not being able to do anything.

If an arrest is made and the person is prosecuted, then very often, he or she will be arrested again and the cycle continues.

Confronted with people clearly in need of treatment and social services, law enforcement officers need a way to respond, because they know they’ll see them again. Confronted with violations of the law, officers cannot simply ignore what’s happening.

But continually arresting individuals for low-level offenses only exacerbates problems. As officers have said for decades, “we cannot arrest our way out of social problems.”

What if officers had a third option?

Increasingly, in jurisdictions across the country, they do.

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