After disagreements and delays, Lincoln County’s drug deflection program is now up and operating

 

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews

NEWPORT – The county’s nascent program to deflect drug users from jail and court into treatment is off to a slow start but law enforcement officials remain optimistic it is just a matter of time before more people enter the program.

“We can deflect at so many different offramps,” Lincoln County Sheriff Adam Shanks said in an interview with YachatsNews. “And we expect it to be kind of slow going in the beginning with law enforcement remembering to go down that road – utilizing that resource.”

Many law enforcement officers in the county started their careers when Measure 110 was in effect, Shanks said. The voter-passed measure reduced possession of smaller amounts of drugs to a violation, which Shanks said amounted to stripping law enforcement of their authority to search suspects.

It also meant people were not going to jail which is often a first step for people to get clean and perhaps choose to get help with substance abuse issues.

Oregon lawmakers voted last year to re-criminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs and allocated millions of dollars toward rehabilitation as an alternative to jail. The legislation encouraged counties to create “deflection” programs to allow people to avoid incarceration and court and have their arrest expunged if they successfully complete a rehabilitation program.

Lincoln County and 27 of Oregon’s 36 other counties set up programs funded by $20.7 million in grants. Lincoln County received $341,500 and a workgroup comprised of law enforcement, judges and treatment providers met for months to launch a program by Sept. 1 – the date designated by legislators.

Gov. Tina Kotek’s proposed 2025-27 budget includes money to continue deflection programs.

Getting local program started

After some initial work in Lincoln County to get the necessary treatment partners and structure in place, settling a disagreement who would oversee the deflection coordinator – and hiring someone for that job — the program began Dec. 30.

The newly hired deflection coordinator is embedded within the district attorney’s office. Because of law enforcement’s slow start with steering eligible candidates into the program, District Attorney Jenna Wallace said the program has adjusted its methods.

“We really built this program to be law enforcement led, meaning that when law enforcement contacts these individuals who qualify for this program, they would be essentially connecting them with treatment out in the field,” Wallace said. “Because that plan has been somewhat slow to start, we kind of went back to the drawing board and broadened the way that we could get individuals deflected into the program.”

The decision in part centered around the fact that when some qualifying candidates come in contact with law enforcement, they are too impaired to understand the deflection option and make an informed choice to seek treatment, Wallace said.

“But we don’t want to keep individuals who would really benefit from this program from getting into the program because they’re high essentially,” she said.

With that in mind, newly hired deflection coordinator Shannon Heisler began several weeks ago to look over the jail roster every morning to determine if anyone in custody might qualify, and if so, connect those who are interested with treatment partners.

Treatment partners include Phoenix Wellness, Reconnections Counseling, Power House Detox, Lincoln County Health and Human Services, Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

Another reason some likely participants may be slipping the net is because it is a new program and police are just now getting back into considering it when they come across someone with a small amount of drugs.

“We are kind of not only retraining law enforcement to think differently about not only drug crimes but also about this potential deflection program,” Wallace said. “I think it’s a work in progress. I think what’s unfortunate is that when I look at the cases that came in in December, I would say there were probably eight cases that would have been great deflection candidates.

“We just didn’t have the deflection program up and running at that time,” she said. “I’m hopeful with this alternative route to deflection that we’ll really be able to see our numbers start increasing in the near future.”

Across Oregon, only 26 people successfully completed their deflection programs between between the program’s start Sept. 1 and Jan. 22, according to data from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. During that same period, 77 people failed deflection, meaning they did not follow through with referrals to programs for addiction treatment, behavioral health, shelter or other social services.

State data shows another 313 people are still in the process of connecting with services, meaning that the number of people who have completed deflection could jump significantly in the coming months as those people work their way through the system.

First deflection coordinator

Heisler was hired as the county’s deflection coordinator after working at CASA of Lincoln County, which advocates for children when they or their parents are in the court system. She made the move because she wanted to apply her paralegal degree to helping the community in more of a legal capacity.

She said one person, who was arrested in Lincoln City with three drug offenses, was admitted into the program in late January.

“The officer issued a deflection citation and contacted the on-call deflection program treatment provider,” Heisler said via email. “The participant has completed an assessment and is currently engaging in substance abuse treatment.”

There is no one-size-fits-all-offender when it comes to how deflection will work in Lincoln County. That will depend on an individual’s needs.

To successfully complete the deflection program, not only will a person have to meet regularly with rehabilitation counselors and participate in group therapy and other activities, they must also pass a urinalysis for 30 consecutive days.

If they fall off the wagon, they start the 30 days over again. And again, depending on need, the level of care could run the gamut from outpatient to inpatient at a rehab partner somewhere in Oregon.

Participants will be given a total of six months to pass that requirement or face going to jail. They can also choose to leave the program at any time and go to jail. If successful, however, the person’s record for the offense will be expunged.

“We definitely want to do this right and it’s a collaborative effort,” Heisler said. “And we are relying heavily on law enforcement and also treatment providers. They are phenomenal and they know these people. And they will be reporting their progress and advocating for them. Everyone involved really wants these individuals to be successful in the program.”

Shanks said he is excited about the program and added now that law enforcement is again able to interdict and investigate drug offenses, it is just a matter of getting back in stride before cases begin to roll in with qualifying candidates.

There is still plenty of illicit drug use taking place in the county, Shanks said, but there is also more education and resources than there has ever been.

“But the danger rate is high because of the types of drugs, such as fentanyl, that are available,” he said. “We’ve talked so much about overdose deaths that I think that if there was ever a time, this is the time that we need these resources in place to help combat that and save lives. I think that’s the biggest key to having a deflection program is trying to connect people with those resources before they’re too far gone.”

• Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com