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Project Lead

What is LEAD?

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is a community-based diversion approach with the goals of improving public safety and public order and reducing unnecessary justice system involvement of people who participate in the program.

How Does it Work?

LEAD is a framework that uses collaboration between police, prosecutors, public defenders, political leaders, mental health and drug treatment providers, and other service agencies to find new ways to solve problems for individuals who frequently cycle in and out of criminal justice system.

LEAD uses police diversion, during and post arrest, and community referrals to engage participants in community-based, trauma-informed intensive case management services.

LEAD utilizes a harm-reduction/housing first philosophy.

LEAD Programs are in operation in over 50 countries nationwide, with dozens more preparing to launch. Floyd County is one of only three counties in Indiana embracing this model.

Floyd County’s Project LEAD Initiative is operated by Clark and Floyd System of Care, in Partnership with the LEAD National Support Bureau, and Grant funded by the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP) and monitored by the Division of Mental Health Administration (DMHA).

Outcomes

    • Across nearly all outcomes, statistically significant reductions of average yearly criminal justice and legal system utilization and associated costs for the LEAD group compared to the control group were observed.
    • LEAD Participants were 58% less likely than people in the control group to be arrested.
    • Participants were significantly more likely to obtain housing, employment, and legitimate income in any given month subsequent to their LEAD referral (i.e., during the 18- month follow-up) compared to the month prior to their referral (i.e., baseline).
    • Participants said that life after LEAD was better than before. Conversely, many LEAD participants expressed the belief that life without LEAD would not have resulted in positive outcomes for them.
    • Of the individuals who originally reported negative experiences with law enforcement, about half said these experiences had become positive after their LEAD involvement. Nearly half of all participants reported little to no further contact with law enforcement after LEAD involvement.

“Information taken from LEAD National Support Bureau Evaluations, published: https://www.leadbureau.org/evaluations