Drug War Ceasefire Comes to Seattle
Cops and prosecutors believe they have enough dirt on more than a dozen Central Area drug dealers to send them to jail. But they're not going to prosecute--not yet --under a new community policing tactic that offers drug dealers amnesty for their crimes if they enter job training programs.
The suspected dealers attended a community meeting at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center last night to get the (sort-of) good news.
Interim Police Chief John Diaz told the assembly: "We want to see something different happen, and I hope this will be a chance for you to take a different path. This is not a joke, and it's not a threat. You're here because people really care about you." (This is via the P-I's Casey McNerthney, who attended the meeting.)
A tougher message came from Capt. Paul McDonagh, commander of the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct: "We're not playing. You have to stop today. ... And if you don't stop, we will stop you and you will go to prison." (This from the Times' Sara Jean Green, who was there as well.)
The tough love approach is new to Seattle, but isn't debuting here. It's known nationally as "Ceasefire", and was developed by an academic named David Kennedy. The New Yorker's John Seabrook wrote about the method in June--we wondered then if it might be tried here, since there's been a spike in gang violence over the past few years. Apparently, the program was already underway.
Ceasefire's greatest success was in Cincinnati, where it was tried by desperate police facing a spiking murder rate. The program (which has its own Facebook page!) resulted in a 42 percent decline in gang violence.
Seattle's suspected drug dealers heard from some community leaders, including the principal of Garfield High, which is just steps away from the most highly-trafficked drug zone, and from a recovered heroin addict. Now comes the hard part--convincing these dealers to trust their community to find them a job in the legal economy. Taking on that task are representatives from the Seattle Vocational Institute, and the state Department of Social and Health Services. Godspeed!
