Instead of taking someone to jail or charging them with a low-level crime, some Kane County police will have the option to connect people to social services like a drug treatment center, mental health provider or a homeless shelter through a pilot program.
Starting in the Kane County sheriff’s office and Elgin Police Department, the pre-arrest diversion program aims to arrest fewer people, reduce recidivism, and address the root cause of the criminal activity by helping people receive services. Officials sponsoring the program hope to expand it to other Kane County communities.
The program is modeled after Seattle’s LEAD, Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, program and was a part of the campaign that State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser ran on. Currently, 60 cities across the U.S. are following the program and Elgin Police Sgt. Tony Rigano said the pilot program will begin in Kane County in the next two weeks.
Speaking at a public forum Thursday night at the Geneva Public Library, Rigano and others explained how the program will work.
“We know that what’s been done — the war on drugs — isn’t working,” said the pre-arrest diversion coordinator Martha Paschke. “Continuing to put people in prison when they have mental health, substance abuse, or poverty issues doesn’t work. In fact, that one night in jail might upend someone’s life completely.”
Instead, the program will help repeated low-level offenders build a long-term relationship with a case manager. After an officer comes across a suspect of a minor crime, officers can use their own discretion to decide if they want to make an arrest. Someone who agrees to enter the program will be paired with a case manager and will sign a contract agreeing to follow the course of action outlined by the case manager. They could face criminal consequences for not living up to their end of the deal.
Kane County already runs drug and mental health courts that provide similar resources, but the pre-arrest diversion program will occur before someone is charged and keep an arrest off their record, sometimes helping a person fight the stigma of an arrest, Paschke said.
Aurora pastors Dan Haas and Peggy Hicks were in attendance and said that, while more information is needed, they believe Aurora could benefit from joining the pilot program and hope to speak with Mayor Richard Irvin and newly appointed Police Chief Keith Cross.
“We’ll have to have a conversation because it is a great program from what I can see,” said Hicks, president of the Fox Valley Christian Ministerial Alliance. “It gives low-level offenders a chance because it provides long-range services and not just for a short period.”
Rigano said the program should reduce the number of inmates at the Kane County jail, which he said is not representative of the demographics of the county.
Retired Seattle police chief Jim Pugel started the LEAD program after the American Civil Liberties Union sued Seattle because 70% of the people arrested, charged and convicted of drug possession of a gram or less were Black men.
A 2015 study of the program showed that participants were 60% less likely to get arrested within six months of entering the program and 58% less likely over the next several years. The International Association of Chiefs of Police previously said that while more studies are needed, LEAD programs are promising so far.
Daryl Pass, who works with the county’s drug court and as a recovery coach, praised Rigano for saying that police can have a racial bias. Pass said he had used heroin for 23 years before he got help and has stayed sober and now he mentors inmates at the Kane County jail on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“I was sick and immersed in addictive behavior, and I was on probation but wasn’t following the rules, so instead I had to go to prison for six months for just one bag of heroin,” Pass said.
Rigano said charging someone with three grams of a controlled substance as a Class X felony is a ridiculous reason to be in jail. The stigma that comes with a criminal record can then lead to poverty and housing issues if they struggle to find employment.
Each department will create its own criteria for what a low-level offense is, Rigano said. In Elgin, they eliminated violent crimes, DUIs, domestic battery and violation of orders of protection. They are not looking at someone’s criminal history either and convicted felons can enter the program.
“Some of them have trauma because of the very system they are in now, so we have to be very sensitive to that,” Rigano said.
To ensure officers are not biased in who they choose not to charge, police officials said they’ll be releasing monthly reports that show the demographics, how many referrals each officer is making and how many cases are successful.
Sheriff Ron Hain quickly teamed on to the pilot program and transferred $50,000 from the sheriff’s court security fund to Mosser to fund Paschke’s position. Right now, the only funding the program has is for her salary.
Paschke said she’s already heard interest from DeKalb and Evanston about following a similar program.
mejones@chicagotribune.com
