Cheyenne PD Case Study: LEAD Program
- Population: 63,607 (2019 est.)
- Products Used: NW CAD, Enterprise Records
- Project: New World Public Safety
- Tyler Client Since: 2015
- Profile: As the capital of Wyoming, Cheyenne is the state’s most populated city. Situated in Laramie County, Cheyenne was established on July 4, 1867, and petitioned for statehood seven times before being formally recognized in 1890. The city is known for Cheyenne Frontier Days – the world’s largest outdoor rodeo.
Challenge:
The Cheyenne Police Department recognized a need to get resources to its populations suffering from substance abuse and mental health disorders. Long waitlists and abstinence-only programs made it difficult for users to get access to care, often leading to offenses committed to feed substance addictions and cyclical jail sentences. Cheyenne needed a solution that would treat the symptoms of the substance abuse and mental health at its source.
Solution:
In 2019, Cheyenne began implementing the region’s first-ever law enforcement assisted diversion program (LEAD). Candidates for the program were selected and assigned a case manager to help them get access to essential resources like food, clothing, and medical care. In August of 2020, the program fully launched with 36 active participants.
Results:
Using New World Enterprise Records, Cheyenne PD was able to quickly sort through its contact profiles to determine program eligibility, saving the agency significant manhours.
Because of this, Cheyenne PD record administrators could:
- Easily search hundreds of cases of non-violent theft or drug-related offenses to present the community data to substantiate the need for the LEAD program.
- Determine whether program candidates met the program criteria based on whether they previously had a violent felony on record.
- Enter notes into records to inform law enforcement officers whether participants needed to contact their LEAD case manager.
In addition to Enterprise Records, Cheyenne PD also uses New World Enterprise CAD to share data with Laramie County Sheriff’s Office and Wyoming Highway Patrol. Inter-agency data-sharing allows all parties to know whether they’ve made contact with a LEAD participant to both verify program enrollment and ensure the contact has access to a case manager if necessary.
Since the full program launch in August 2020, promising new data suggests 58% of program participants are less likely to reoffend once they’ve been enrolled in the program.
Considerations
Cheyenne’s LEAD program is modeled after Seattle’s 2011 LEAD program which was implemented after an increase in jailing of its homeless population. As the Rocky Mountain region’s only LEAD program, Cheyenne is using innovative progressive policies to reduce recidivism for those suffering from mental health and substance abuse disorders. The program provides participants with resources to seek medical care, get access to food and clothing, and equip them with tools to begin their new life journey.
“Before LEAD, the only multiple-discipline based programs have been through the courts (drug court, DUI court, Veterans Court), and they have been criminal justice-oriented,” said Cheyenne’s LEAD Case Manager Hailey Hayden.
For those seeking help, that may mean otherwise waiting on months long waiting lists to get access to sober living resources.
“With LEAD, we try to look at those who have struggled in the past and get to them before they reoffend again,” shared Hayden. “If we can’t get them before then and they happen to have contact with law enforcement out in the community, the officer has discretion on whether to take the to jail or refer them to the LEAD program to see if they can receive help catered towards what they need.”