Since taking office in January Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ chief priority has been addressing the city’s surging violent crime rate. Not far behind that, the city’s homelessness problem and related issues regarding mental health, substance abuse, and then of course the crime that so often accompanies them.
Tangible progress towards finding solutions to those issues was made this week as the City Council approved $2,905,750 in funding for the city’s new Center for Diversion Services, which will serve as a “pre-arrest drop-off point” where service providers can help those suffering from homelessness, mental health, and substance abuse in a supportive environment that doesn’t put them into a cycle of incarceration.
The Center will accept individuals diverted through Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), which allows law enforcement officers to offer, at their discretion, pre-arrest diversion to individuals suffering from addiction or mental health issues, but who are not suspected of violent crimes and who are not eligible for admission at Grady’s psychiatric emergency room. It will then also hopefully alleviate some of the strain put on the city’s law enforcement, healthcare, and judicial systems, which have been swamped since the pandemic lifted, leading in some cases to violent re-offenders being released back to the streets.
Approximately 30 percent of Atlanta jail bookings are for charges related to homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse. Those individuals will be the ones hopefully targeted by the Center, and offered support that will help them avoid recidivism and a cycle of incarceration. Atlanta officials last year visited a similar center in Houston, Texas, that has seen positive results in confronting issues with a similar demographic base as Atlanta. According to numbers from the Harris County Mental Health Diversion Center, for every dollar spent on diversion, Harris County avoids spending $5.54 on criminal justice costs.
The Center is part of the large-scale ‘One Safe City’ plan that has become a cornerstone of the Dickens administration, a balanced response to public safety that looks to bring community, business, and government leaders all into the fold to address the large-scale issues facing the city.
“In line with our whole-of-government approach to public safety, the Center for Diversion Services is a proactive approach to addressing some of the root causes of crime,” said Dickens following the funding’s passage. “This is a people-first holistic approach to public safety to end the cycle of needless incarceration for non-violent offenders and strengthen community wellness by directly addressing the underlying issues related to behavioral health and poverty.”
The Center will be placed within vacant space in the Atlanta City Detention Center (ACDC), separate from jail operations, until a permanent facility can be decided on down the road. Renovations, expected to take about six months, will focus on “creating a welcoming space” in the facility.
