BURIEN, Wash. — Lawmakers recently approved an overhaul of Washington’s approach to drug possession after the Washington Supreme Court struck down its previous law as unconstitutional.
The bill makes simple possession of controlled substances a gross misdemeanor instead of a felony, and mandates that local governments provide treatment options. While the state will provide funding for the treatment, each local jurisdiction will have to figure out its own plan.
However, the city of Burien has been doing this since June 2019. Like much of western Washington, Burien has seen an increase in its homeless population, drug use, and property crime.
But when someone in Burien is arrested for drug possession or certain misdemeanors, and officers believe they can be helped, the department offers the offender to join their Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program.
If the person wishes to join the program, they are diverted away from the court system and connected to services and treatment in Burien. This gives the person a chance to not only get help but also make connections within the community.
Burien Police Chief Ted Boe said 40 people have been successfully helped through the LEAD program already, and there are 56 others currently receiving help.
“Every time you get somebody out of a homelessness scenario, you often have somebody else entering it,” said Boe. ”There's a lot of causes that are driving that, and we have to keep up the work. But this is the work that I think is most effective long term. Short term, we still have to be responsive to criminal behaviors and responding when somebody calls 911 because they have a legitimate criminal concern. So, it's about that balanced approach.”
Boe said this is not a program for every person and not the only solution to addiction and homelessness. However, he said it’s an impactful tool in the department’s toolbox. He hopes other cities look into the LEAD program when figuring out their new drug diversion framework.
Burien's LEAD program has the capacity to serve up to 100 people each year.
The LEAD program is currently in operation in most Seattle Police Department and Metro Transit Police precincts, according to the city of Burien’s website. The national LEAD program operates in 30 communities across the United States.
Among the changes seen since George Floyd’s murder and protests across the world are police departments reallocating funding to other programs. In Seattle, that amounted to $70 million being cut from the police budget.
According to an exclusive KING 5 News poll, almost two-thirds of people surveyed said they support or strongly support the idea of reallocating police funding to different programs.
Twenty-nine percent of people surveyed said they either oppose or strongly oppose reallocating the funds, and 8% said they were unsure.
If you break down the data by age, 71% of people surveyed under the age of 50 support the idea of reallocating funds from police, while 51% of people over the age of 50 support the idea.
Eighty percent of people surveyed who identified as a Democrat support the idea, versus 44% of Republicans.