PAD’s Graphic Map of the Local Criminal Legal System (Credit: Kate Morales, As the Crow Flies Design)
Overview
The Issue
The use of arrest and incarceration to address issues related to behavioral health and poverty does not serve our communities. It puts pressure on police to solve problems that they are not equipped to solve. It prioritizes isolation and punishment, instead of the connections that support recovery and stability. And it limits the creative problem solving that is necessary to actually improve public order and quality of life.
Our Approach
PAD employs three core strategies to advance community safety and wellness:
Diversion: We accept pre-arrest diversion referrals from law enforcement, to provide an immediate alternative to arrest for individuals experiencing substance addiction, mental health concerns, or extreme poverty.
Direct Services: We work with diverted individuals and those with significant criminal legal involvement to address immediate basic needs, and establish relationships of care and concern based on the principles of harm reduction and housing first.
Engagement & Advocacy: We partner with community members, advocates and businesses to encourage investment in the public and community-driven solutions that will reduce harm and improve community quality of life, and advocate for policies that increase access to housing and services and reduce the criminalization of poverty.
Diversion
The Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative provides diversion to services instead of an arrest, where probable cause exists but the activity is related to substance use, mental illness or extreme poverty. PAD serves as the coordinating entity for the initiative, providing on-call diversion response, ensuring coordination between agencies, and working with agency partners to reduce legal barriers to success.
PAD is a collaboration between the Atlanta Police Department, City of Atlanta Public Defender’s Office, City of Atlanta Solicitor’s Office, Fulton County Public Defender’s Office, Fulton County Solicitor General’s Office, and Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
Pre-arrest diversion is available to police officers who have probable cause to arrest but identify that the individual’s behavior would be better addressed through social services instead of jail. If the individual consents to diversion, officers request mobile response to the scene. PAD’s Harm Reduction team conducts an initial intake, and begins working with the diverted individual to identify immediate needs and connect them to a PAD Care Navigator.
PAD is one of seven sites selected for the national LEAD Proof of Concept Cohort. To learn more about Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, visit the LEAD Support Bureau.
“How can we help you do better?”
Our participants have reconnected with family members, started working, secured name changes and disability benefits, and resolved longstanding legal issues that had prevented them from moving forward. This is what happens when people stop being punished, and start being asked: How can we help you do better?
Direct Services
PAD provides direct services to diverted individuals. Our services are grounded in the principles of harm reduction and housing first. The focus of our direct services is to reduce criminal legal contact and address quality of life concerns in a way that honors the dignity and self-determination of the participant. Our direct services include:
Immediate Shelter & Basic Needs: All participants are offered emergency shelter, transportation and food assistance for up to 3 months.
Outreach & Case Management: Care Navigators and the outreach team engage participants during weekly in-office and street-based visits.
Linkage to Care: Participants are connected to service providers for identification documents, recovery support, employment, and other services.
The individuals that PAD works with are people who have had multiple contacts with the criminal legal system and who have often been excluded or unsuccessful in accessing traditional social services. PAD prioritizes working with individuals who have been impacted by racial disparity in policing and sentencing, and with transgender, gender non-conforming and LGBQIA individuals who are often under-served by existing social services.
PAD provides referrals to a wide variety of service providers. If you are interested in providing housing, substance use, mental health, or other services to PAD participants, please contact us to learn more.
“We don’t give up on anyone.“
At times, our participants get discharged from housing, re-arrested, and then stop engaging with services. We know this may happen when people are dealing with addiction, mental illness, and individual and systemic trauma. We have honest conversations, keep celebrating the little wins, and keep offering positive connections. We don’t give up on anyone.
Engagement & Advocacy
Engagement
PAD is an active member of the communities we serve in order to collaboratively develop new approaches to community safety and wellness. The PAD Harm Reduction team participates in neighborhood meetings, problem-solves with local businesses, and conducts street-based outreach and relationship-building with community members surviving on the streets or in the informal economy.
PAD also trains law enforcement in diversion, harm reduction, and behavioral health issues, and continuously engages with frontline police officers to identify and divert individuals in need of social services.
Pre-arrest diversion is currently available in APD Zones 5 and 6, which include the Downtown, Midtown, Old Fourth Ward, Edgewood, East Atlanta Village, English Avenue and Home Park neighborhoods. If you are connected to these communities (or are interested in bringing PAD to your neighborhood) and would like to learn more about how PAD can support your community safety and wellness goals, please contact us.
Advocacy
PAD advocates for policies that increase access to housing and services, and reduce the criminalization of poverty, marginalization, and behavioral health concerns. While individuals may be diverted out of the criminal legal system, there must be appropriate crisis response, housing, and recovery services to address the challenges our communities face.
PAD works closely with service and advocacy organizations to identify opportunities for increasing access to support services, reducing legal barriers, and changing punitive policies. At the county level, PAD is a member of the Fulton County Justice and Mental Health Taskforce, to identify and implement strategies that reduce the number of individuals with mental illness in Fulton County jail.
At the city level, PAD is a member of the Reimagining ACDC Taskforce, and our team has worked closely with other Taskforce members to develop recommendations to close the city jail and convert city ordinance violations to civil offenses.
“Diversity is what makes me feel safe.”
“If you’re worried about ‘the other,’ you’re not going to feel safe. Diversity is what makes me feel safe…and that diversity doesn’t just include the types of people that you see and sexual orientation, but income levels as well-- that’s important. I think people need to see how other people live and what they’re going through. [Knowing my neighbors also] makes me feel safe. That I know their names. Whether it’s someone who owns a business or someone who is experiencing homelessness.”