Josephine County is using that money, an amount over $700,000, to expand services offered by the sobering center in Grants Pass.
Community Corrections Director Scott Hyde said in a meeting with commissioners Thursday morning that the local public safety coordinating council, who has been tasked with devising a plan for the funds, had two major directives in doing so.
The first is being clear on how they will measure success.
Hyde said an ASAM, an assessment that determines the level of alcohol and drug treatment an individual may require, will be conducted on individuals.
鈥淭hat assessment determines the level of care, and then from there, we begin the process of trying to get them into those places,鈥� Hyde said.
The second goal is leveraging existing resources.
鈥淲hile it is a decent sum of money, it鈥檚 not nearly enough money to stand something up from the ground without actually building it on some of the infrastructure that already exists,鈥� Hyde said.
This means utilizing the sobering center as the point of connection between police and peer support specialists, who will conduct the ASAM.
鈥淓ssentially, if someone were arrested with a PCS (Possession of a Controlled Substance) charge, he鈥檚 given the option to go to the sobering center and receive a full assessment, and that would count as a deflection,鈥� said County District Attorney Joshua Eastman. 鈥淭hat is what 110 was trying to get to, not punishing them criminally for addiction and getting them engaged in services.鈥�
Hyde said the funds will be used to hire four new people: two peer support specialists, a program coordinator who will keep track of metrics and orchestrate the deflection process, and a sheriff liaison.
He said that while the program makes sense for cities, making sure it works at the county level requires different considerations, like how someone arrested in Wolf Creek, a more rural community, might be transported to the sobering center. The mission of the sheriff liaison will be to help facilitate the sheriff department鈥檚 involvement in the program, specifically relating to transportation.
The program also specifies the addition of a vehicle for the sobering center and a retrofit of the building to allow for separate office space from the intake area.
Commissioners Herman Baertschiger and John West expressed concern about hiring four new people, given that this set of funds are only supposed to last for one year.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to stand this thing up,鈥� Hyde said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to look at it for a year. If we get the funding again鈥攁wesome. We鈥檒l reassess and see what we can add. If not, we did what we could for a year while we had it, and it is what it is.鈥�
Overall, the Oregon Behavioral Health Deflection Grant Program is administering over $16.5 million to counties throughout the state.
The deflection programs will vary from county to county. Of the 26 counties beginning deflection programs, roughly a third intend to cite individuals for further assessments, according to the state鈥檚 Criminal Justice Commission. Eleven intend to use 鈥渕obile crisis or other community response team efforts and outreach.鈥�
In Jackson County, deflection will be administered through the Medford Police Department鈥檚 Livability Team who will cite individuals for drug possession and hold their charges until they complete specific steps as part of the program.
Just two will be using what the Commission is calling 鈥渂ehavioral health centers鈥�: Multnomah and Josephine Counties.
Although Measure 110鈥檚 reforms officially go into effect Sept. 1, Josephine County鈥檚 deflection program is expected to become functional in January 2025.
