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| 25 July 2000 - The San Diego North County Times Deputies make 'house calls' in drug study Officials making sure first-time offenders follow rehabilitation orders VISTA – Six sheriff's deputies are making sure some first-time drug offenders follow through with their court-ordered drug rehabilitation under a new study project in Vista. As outlined by sheriff's Cpt. David Brown at Monday's meeting of the Vista Partners Project of the San Diego County Methamphetamine Strike Force, the deputies are giving personal attention to selected nonviolent offenders on probation in the city during the project, dubbed Operation House Call. "Our goal is to get them into treatment, and, if they're in treatment, to stay in treatment," Brown told a dozen people at the Greater Antioch Baptist Church. "This is a whole different way of policing." The 14-month program that started June 11 involves nonviolent probationers who have agreed to allow law enforcement to search them or their property at any time, said Brown and Linda Bridgeman Smith, coordinator of the Vista Partners Project. Smith declined to give the number of probationers, saying it might skew the outcome, but she said each Community Oriented Police and Problem Solving deputy is following about 10 cases at a time. The probationers are Vista men and women, 22 to 42 years old, who are predominantly methamphetamine users, Smith said. She said they are all misdemeanor drug offenders with no history of violence or drug sales or manufacturing. The deputies are being paid overtime through federal funding to handle cases whenever the officers are needed. The deputies are estimating they're spending about one hour a day on the project, said Smith. "They're still doing their law enforcement on behalf of Vista," she added. Deputies can handle each case with a variety of methods, Brown said. "(Probationers) go back and forth a little bit," he said. "I tell them, 'I'm a resource – but I'm the only resource that can put you in jail.'" Brown and Smith said that in addition to reducing demand for drugs, additional project benefits seem to include learning more about the community, getting more drug information and giving families a chance to see they can work with law enforcement. It's really too soon to tell how well the program is working, Smith said, but there was general agreement within law enforcement, court personnel and treatment providers that something was needed to make probationers accountable for pursuing drug treatment. "It's working," said Eric Mosley, prevention specialist for the McAlister Institute in Oceanside. "I've already had a couple of people come in. People know the deputies will follow up." The Methamphetamine Strike Force hotline to get help or report abuse is 1-877-No-2-Meth. Article Snapshot 1 (25K) Article Snapshot 2 (12K) |
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