Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is a community-based diversion approach with the goals of improving public safety and public order and reducing unnecessary justice system involvement of people who participate in the program. A panel of experts discussed their work and experience with LEAD. They are Lisa Daugaard, Director of the Public Defender Association; Reed Baer, Deputy Chief of Police of the Hickory Police Department in North Carolina; and Charlton Roberson, a peer support specialist from Fayetteville’s LEAD program. Allison Robertson, Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke, and Melissia Larson, LEAD Coordinator at North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, moderated.
