A SPD officer responds to a reported overdose near the city’s central library (Image: SPD)
With the new law opening the way for a crackdown on public drug use in the city going into effect October 1st, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has issued his promised executive order his administration says will help ensure a more equal balance of treatment and diversion efforts as Seattle Police enforce the law by establishing “a threat of harm assessment.”
“We are committed to learning lessons from the past, holding traffickers, dealers, and those causing the most harm accountable, and helping people access treatment and care through diversion services,” Harrell said in the announcement.
CHS reported here on the passage of the new law opening the way for more arrests and prosecution of public use of drugs like meth and fentanyl while also earmarking millions in spending for diversion and treatment programs. While the crackdown could help address concerns about street disorder and overdoses, it also is expected to tax the city’s law enforcement and treatment resources while adding to the challenges already faced by those living with addiction and living homeless in the city.
The new order hinges on a so-called “threat of harm assessment.” Harrell says the executive order “provides direction to officers on how to enforce the ordinance, including examples of how public use and possession can be established and factors that will guide the threat of harm assessment.”
If a drug user is determined at an officer’s discretion to not be a harm to others, Harrell’s order directs police to make an attempt to connect the user with diversion or treatment services.
“The Executive Order makes clear that harm pertains to the impact on the ability of others to use shared public space and identifies areas that have a high likelihood of the presence of other community members and where the use of controlled substances impacts public safety and security,” Harrell says.
SPD will issue its own guidelines following the order, Publicola reports.
The September city council vote could go down as a watershed moment in the city’s ongoing addiction, mental health, and homelessness crises. CHS talked with the two candidates vying to join the council to represent District 3 about how they would have voted on the legislation here.
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I hope it does something to reduce….I know it won’t go away completely. Stepping on needles and being threatened by screaming drug users on the sidewalk is getting old. Need to take it down a notch.
What I think is lost in all of this is that the SPD don’t want, nor can deal with, a sudden influx of users withdrawing in their jail cells. But this gives them the tools to go after the worst behaviors, and it might send a message to others on the street to not be so blatant and anti-social about their use. Who knows? But maybe an arrest here or there might actually save somebodies life. I keep thinking of the poor souls I’ve seen at 12th and Jackson who look like they could barely survive another day, let alone a lifetime.
“If a drug user is determined at an officer’s discretion to not be a harm to others, Harrell’s order directs police to make an attempt to connect the user with diversion or treatment services.”
This seems like a reasonable “middle ground” between arresting everyone and continuing to ignore the problem on our streets. But it requires the officer to become a social worker in order to divert and arrange treatment. Will the officers really have the time to perform such a service? And what happens if the individual just refuses to accept what is being offered, as so often happens with homeless people when they are offered shelter?
I think they should just allow the police to enforce the law without the performative progressive dance. Harm reduction and diversion has led to more overdose deaths not less and more harm to everyone not less.
What we need to do is build secure treatment… make sure all SPD has to do is pick them up off of the streets and that there is somewhere that is not jail but still not optional to send them all to… either that or or at least integrate treatment into jail in a meaningful way. Probably both need to be done.