July 21, 2016
Bucking the national trend toward progressive reform, the Albuquerque Police Department recently doubled down on its aggressive policing of minor drug offenses. Recently, the department arrested seven men – six of whom were homeless – as part of a reverse drug sting. One man, struggling with homelessness and mental health issues, agreed to trade the jacket off his back in order to pay for $20 worth of crack cocaine. Others traded medication, a cellphone, or a tablet – along with whatever loose change they had on them. All seven now face felony drug charges for possession.
The reverse sting, or “reverse buy and bust,” involves an undercover police officer posing as a drug seller and selling drugs to unsuspecting drug users. Police then arrest the buyers – homeless men in this case. Inducing criminal activity through reverse stings treads close to the line of illegality. Such practices are barred in many European countries as outright entrapment.
Yet some police departments and federal agencies have increasingly relied on the tactic in their enforcement of drug laws. In Albuquerque, police obtained drugs from the evidence room – and even sought permission from a judge to manufacture crack cocaine – to sell to users.
This reliance on reverse stings flies in the face of clear evidence that such tactics don’t work. Despite millions incarcerated and billions spent in the War on Drugs, the rate of drug use has remained steady.
Reverse drug sting operations targeting users exploit addiction to lock people ever deeper into cycles of homelessness, petty crime, incarceration, and overdose. Despite this widely accepted truth, and condemnation by the Mayor and City Councilmembers, the Albuquerque police chief has vowed to continue use of the reverse stings.
Meanwhile, an hour north, the Santa Fe Police Department has embraced evidence-based approaches to handling drug use. In 2014, recognizing the real needs of communities and families struggling with addiction, overdose, and incarceration, Santa Fe implemented the pre-booking diversion pilot program, otherwise known as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD).
First implemented in Seattle in 2011, LEAD allows police officers to redirect people facing petty offenses, including low-level drug possession, from jail and prosecution into treatment and social support. Public approval and scientific studies indicate the success of the program. Informed by harm reduction strategies, Santa Fe’s LEAD program is a model for dealing with a problem that often cannot effectively be addressed through the criminal justice system.
In these two cities we see two radically different approaches to drug use. One replays the failures of the War on Drugs and continues to target and criminalize drug users; the other acts on evidence of best practices to treat problematic drug use as a public health issue.
New Mexico, like any state, wants to build and sustain strong, healthy, safe communities. But it needs strategies that work, strategies that re-imagine the role police officers are asked to play in our communities. The Albuquerque Police Department can do better.
Emily Kaltenbach is the senior director of criminal justice reform strategy and state director of New Mexico with the Drug Policy Alliance.