TITLE
Recommendation to authorize the Long Beach City Prosecutor and City Manager, or designee, to execute all necessary documents, including any amendments, to receive and expend grant funding from the Board of State and Community Corrections and the Los Angeles County Office of Diversion and Re-Entry-in an amount not to exceed $700,000 for the period May 1, 2017, and ending September 30, 2019; and increase appropriation in the General Grants Fund (SR 120) in the City Prosecutor Department (CP) by an amount not to exceed $200,000, and in the General Grants Fund (SR 120) in the Long Beach Police Department by an amount not to exceed $500,000, to implement a pre-booking diversion program. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
The Long Beach City Prosecutor and the Long Beach Police Department in collaboration with Los Angeles County have been selected to participate in a pilot project known as the LA County Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LAC LEAD). The LAC LEAD pilot project is made possible by a grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) for the purpose of improving public safety and reducing recidivism by persons suspected of low-level drug offenses and/or prostitution.
Two years ago, the Long Beach City Prosecutor's Office and the Long Beach Police Department began a court diversion program designed to assist women engaged in prostitution-related offenses who were determined to be likely victims of sex trafficking. Many of the women also suffered from varying degrees of drug or alcohol addiction. The diversion program, known as the Long Beach Directed Services Program (DSP), is partially funded by the My Sister's Keeper GRIP7 grant funds, which is slated for elimination in the current State budget.
The DSP became recognized as an innovative approach to the growing problem of sex trafficking, bring together prosecutors and law enforcement. In lieu of traditional criminal justice punishment, those detained for prostitution are referred to carefull...
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