Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is a community-based diversion approach with the goal of reducing unnecessary justice system involvement of people who participate in the program.
In a LEAD program, police officers exercise discretionary authority at point of contact to divert individuals to a community-based, harm-reduction intervention for low-level drug charges. In lieu of the normal criminal justice system cycle — booking, detention, prosecution, conviction, incarceration — individuals are instead referred into a case-management program where the individual receives a wide range of support services.
When appropriate, the mobile outreach teams are dispatched to the location of the point of contact and provide support from a peer recovery specialist and a certified drug and alcohol counselor.
