EUGENE, Ore. — On November 10, a Eugene Police detective, Lane County Behavioral Health peer navigator, and a EPD patrol officer teamed up for a special three-hour focus on trespassing and drug use with the goal of getting people into treatment by offering those they contacted deflection instead of jail.
Deflection, a program through the Lane County Behavioral Health Deflection Program, is a community-based alternative to jail and prosecution for drug possession and low-level quality of life crimes that offers access to programs and treatment instead of citations and jail. Four out of five people contacted Monday chose deflection.
For three hours, the detective worked with a deflection peer navigator to locate people and the first three he contacted were on the north side of Eugene Clean Laundromat, 825 W. 7th Avenue. Two out of the three agreed to take part in deflection, which routes them into treatment instead of jail. The third, a 35-year-old man, opted for being cited for Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree. The two choosing deflection were a woman in her 30s, and an 18-year-old woman. They each received deflection for Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree and Possession of a Controlled Substance (PCS) Schedule II (Fentanyl)…