Union County’s Deflection Program receives $150,000 grant

UNION COUNTY – Union County’s Deflection Program has been given a grant of $150,000 to get the program up and running, according to Valerie Schlichting, Union County Victim Assistance Program Director.

The deflection program involves law enforcement citing individuals for criminal activity. Those cases will then be sent to the Union County District Attorney and a local defense attorney where a recommendation/offer will be made to the cited individual to determine if the deflection/deferred prosecution program will be accepted. According to Schlichting, the idea behind this program is, “If an individual accepts, BHD Coordinator will monitor all participants and work with the prosecutor on compliance and completion. The local behavioral health agency, Center for Human Development will then receive a referral from the BHD Coordinator and the referred client will then complete an assessment and either provide in-house treatment to those qualify or will make referrals to qualifying agencies.

Participants will have engaged or continue to be engaged in treatment with no charges being filed for the incident that referred them to the deflection program. Furthermore, individuals will be connected to resources to reduce crime, which will reduce the judicial docket and enable law enforcement to focus on more serious crimes. Bridges will be built with community partners to ensure wrap around services for participants and relationships will be stronger within the community.”

The Deflection Program for Union County is still being finalized so some of these details may change according to Schlichting.

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Elkhorn Media Group