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New Program In Lakewood Focuses On Giving Low-Level Offenders A Second Chance

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - A pilot program in Lakewood is the first of its kind in the Denver Metro Area to give most low-level offenders an alternative to citations or jail time. A version of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program already exists in Denver, where the focus is on sex workers. In Lakewood, the program focuses on adults who commit non-violent, low-level crimes and provides them with a second chance.

"LEAD is all about bringing alternates to the criminal justice system for people who commit low-level offenses, usually tied to substance use, chronic alcoholism, chronic mental health issues, or extreme poverty," said Sergeant Jon Alesch with the Lakewood Police Department.

He says the Lakewood Police Department has seen large increases in drug arrests and investigations through the years and those numbers continue to rise.

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(credit: CBS)

"We said, 'How can we do this better? What can we do differently?' Because the status quo is not working. Simply jailing people for drug offenses is not changing their behavior. It's overloading the criminal justice system and we're still seeing the crime and the disorder on the street associated with it," said Alesch.

"So the idea behind LEAD really was to say, okay if we recognize that the system as it stands hasn't worked, what alternatives are there? And LEAD was an alternative that was born out of that conversation," Alesch added.

Right now, the program only has one caseworker, but the goal is to eventually hire more.

"It's kind of a different age of policing--having civilians work with cops--but it seems to be working really well," said Katlyn Wilson, a case manager with the LEAD program.

Wilson has a caseload of 11 but knows the need is much greater. For now, only a certain number of officers in specific areas are trained to offer the diversion.

"So we have diversion hours right now and an agent can call me during that time and they would say, 'Hey, I'm out with so and so and they are looking for some help,' it's a very low-level, non-violent crime," said Wilson.

Crimes like shoplifting or public intoxication. When Wilson responds, she calls it a warm hand-off.

"Where I'm kind of meeting them at the point of crisis of, 'Hey, I'm either gonna get a ticket or I can get this program,' and then we just start working on it," she said.

Wilson says her job is to assist the client or offender through counseling, the court process, and other issues.

"A lot of my job is accompanying them to those appointments, getting them there, basic needs, food, shelter transportation is a big part of my job, a majority of the folks that I'm working with right now are homeless and they don't have cell phones. They just don't have the resources to get to the resources, which that's kind of my job is just to say 'hey I'm here to kind of help you get to the resources'," she said.

Offenders only get one chance at diversion but if they re-offend, they can still call Wilson for help.

"I'm very willing to help anyone that's willing to help themselves and that's really the clientele we're really trying to hit and I think we have so far," said Wilson.

She also works with judges and the district attorney to make sure they know when an offender is in the program.

"So we've kind of been kind of that bridge there as far as the criminal justice system of let's get rid of all these tickets, let's get rid of all of these warrants and see how we can move forward," said Wilson

There are still two years left in the pilot program. The goal is to not only expand it but make it a permanent part of the budget within the Lakewood Police Department.

Learn more about LEAD and its role throughout the state.

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