Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion/Let Everyone Advance with Dignity (LEAD) Program expands Bernalillo County’s efforts to identify, respond to, treat, and support those impacted by illicit opioids, stimulants, and other drugs of abuse through pre-arrest programing for individuals who commit low level, non-violent, drug related offense. LEAD is supported by a Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP) grant from the United States Department of Justice and was developed as part of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) legislation. The cornerstone of LEAD is its emphasis on partnerships and collaboration across the public health, behavioral health, criminal justice sectors. Effective community responses leverage the combined expertise of each of these disciplines and rely upon unified and coordinated strategies. The Bernalillo County LEAD Program is a collaboration between the County of Bernalillo, the Department of Behavioral Health Services (DBHS), the State of New Mexico, the United States Department of Justice, the MacArthur Foundation, the Urban institutes, the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the Law Offices of the Public Defender, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, Albuquerque Police Department, and other key stakeholders.