OLYMPIA, WA – On Monday, the Substance Use Recovery Services Advisory Committee heard from some members of law enforcement voicing support for pre-arrest diversion programs.

SURSAC is a Washington state committee that advises the Legislature on policy recommendations for substance use treatment and recovery services.

Pre-arrest diversion programs are initiatives that allow law enforcement to refer individuals engaged in lower-level offenses, often linked to substance abuse, into community-based services instead of making an arrest and pushing those people into the criminal justice system.

The idea is to address the root causes of people turning to crime and help them turn their lives around with treatment for addiction or mental health issues, and other social services, to prevent future arrests and incarceration.

Two examples of this in Washington are the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, or LEAD, program and the Recovery Navigator Program.

Ahead of hearing from law enforcement, SURSAC members were briefed by Jason Schwarz, director at the Snohomish County Office of Public Defense, who said his office supports pre-arrest diversion programs because law enforcement is already overwhelmed.

“We have 20 felony lawyers, and starting in 2026, I’ll need about eight more. We will need about 50 more lawyers in the felony unit,” he told the committee, a reference to Washington State Bar Association requirements limiting caseloads for public defenders. “If you imagine the cost of that, these are lawyers qualified to represent people on murder and sex cases, and that’s quite expensive. You’re talking about $200,000 per FTE with overhead and whatnot.”

That would amount to $10 million just for Snohomish County public defense, all at taxpayer expense.

Whitman County Undersheriff Chris Chapman told SURSAC members that he first learned of the diversion programs more than two years ago, but was highly skeptical at the time.

“The RNP program came to us and said this is what we can do,” he said. “And there wasn’t a lot of follow-through, partly my fault, maybe partly the fault of the manager at the time. And maybe some cynicism from me.”

Chapman said when a new manager for the program hounded him about it for some time, he jumped on board.

“I immediately told my deputies, take them right now to whatever person you know fits this program and see what they can do,” he continued.

The undersheriff shared the story of a woman in crisis who was helped by his department, partnering with the RNP, this past summer.

“She had mental health issues and substance abuse issues, and she was a mess. And there was no crime or anything…” Chapman explained. “So then the RNP program shows up, and I told him [a deputy] to take this worker out there, and they did and immediately got results. We have not dealt with this gal since, which only leads me to believe that it worked.

He reiterated that he was initially skeptical of the approach.

“It’s working for us,” Chapman said. “There’s a lot of unfunded mandates and stuff. I’m seeing it work on the road. It’s saving us a ton of time, and I find a lot of value in this, and I hope we continue to do this.”

Officer John Morbeck with the Clarkston Police Department told SURSAC that he is also seeing success with the diversion programs, especially in cases where assigned navigators are ensuring that people appear in court if they have been charged, in hopes of avoiding conviction.

“I think the Navigator program has really had a huge impact in getting those people to court and getting them to their appointments on time. And it’s not just court. I mean, like medical appointments that they normally would not go to because they can’t, or they don’t have a way to get there,” he noted.

The officer said his department is bogged down with higher priorities, so having partner navigators is a huge help.

“If they can come in and take care of it; we’ve got crashes, we’ve got accidents, we’ve got domestic, we’ve got all this other stuff going and they can step in and kind of start dealing with the people and it frees our officers up to be able to go deal with even more stuff that’s coming in,” Morbeck said.

No SURSAC members spoke in opposition to pre-arrest diversion programs, but The Center Square reached out to We Heart Seattle founder Andrea Suarez for comment.

Suarez’s organization cleans up drug areas in the city. It offers resources to those locked in the cycle of substance use, with a focus on accountability, rather than “harm reduction” programs that do not require treatment.

“If diversion doesn’t come with a requirement to do drug treatment with it, then I am against it,” she said. “Getting a nice hotel room instead of jail makes no sense.”