Last year, David Lee was living on Atlanta’s streets, sleeping on a cardboard box and begging for change outside of a QuikTrip. That was until one day when a police officer approached him as Lee laid on the ground in the rain.
The officer asked what he was doing to which the Atlantan — who was struggling with substance abuse issues — responded: “I’m trying to get clean.”
Instead of taking Lee to jail, the officer called the Policing Alternatives and Diversion Initiative, also known as PAD, Atlanta’s original pre-arrest diversion program that helps vulnerable residents get back on their feet.
“Can you imagine what it’s like to navigate an addict (or) an alcoholic, back into society?” Lee said recently at the podium in the City Hall chamber. “To this day, I live a good life. God placed PAD in my life. I’ve been blessed now with 17 months clean and sober.”
Lee is one of dozens of people who have descended on Atlanta City Hall for the past two months advocating for the city to renew its contract with the PAD, which was founded in 2017 as part of an effort to reduce arrests.