If local media reports are accurate, Seattle police chief Gil Kerlikowske may soon depart for Washington, D. C. to become the nation's leading drug policy authority. You can read the speculation here and here.
If it's all true, I'm very happy for Chief Kerlikowske. He will be a reasoned and articulate voice for wise drug policy, and will bring a progressive, street-wise perspective.
In my brief 14 months on the City Council, I have been struck by the police department's openness to new strategies re drug enforcement. For example, police commanders are currently studying new alternatives to incarceration for low-level drug offenses, including pre-arrest diversion programs like one pioneered in High Point, North Carolina.
There is broad acknowledgment in our city that traditional enforcement efforts aimed at drug users are not working and that new approaches are necessary. I have found Chief Kerlikowske to be very proactive, even intrigued by various possibilities. I'm not referring here to drug traffickers or those involved in organized drug distribution activities, but rather casual users, first time offenders, and other low-level participants. Chief Kerlikowske has readily acknowledged that we can't "arrest our way out" of these challenges and that new responses are needed. I couldn't agree more.
The City Council, working with the Mayor, has started a review of the city's approach to low-level drug offenders. This review is primarily related to decisions the city faces about jail capacity, but it can influence much more, including police philosophy and enforcement strategies.
A final note. There's a saying from the Christian Scriptures, "a prophet has no honor in his own home." In many ways, this description fits Chief Kerlikowske. Around here, he's the police chief with all the ups and downs that entails, even sometimes taken for granted. But, on the national scene, he is regarded as one of the country's leading police practitioners, highly regarded among academics and his policing peers.