City officials and King County public defenders alike say treatment is the ultimate goal for folks found using drugs in public. But they diverge when it comes to how they say those efforts are going.
A new report from King County Department of Public Defense shows how an ordinance designed to push folks into drug treatment has instead resulted in criminal prosecution for more than 200 people over the last two years, with the data showing increasing prosecutions over time.
Natalie Walton-Anderson, Chief Public Safety Officer for the City of Seattle, says the ordinance is working as intended.
“It allowed us to build out a diversionary model that is really based in a public health approach,” she said, adding that the city-funded Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program has diverted – meaning redirecting by providing access to treatment – 600 people since the ordinance went into effect.
Director of King County Public Defense Matthew Sanders argues the folks diverted don’t negate concerns about how many people were prosecuted.
“We see similarly situated people, charged with simple drug possession or drug use,” he said. “That's it, and they're being booked into jail. They're being prosecuted ... They have the threat of jail hanging over their head.”
Walton-Anderson said the prosecutions happen at the discretion of the City Attorney’s office. She says prosecutions might occur because someone was diverted previously, was ineligible for diversion because of reasons like an outstanding warrant or was facing additional charges. However, the public defense report noted 70% of those prosecuted were only charged with drug crimes.
Prosecutions are also trending upwards, with the report showing that in the first half of 2025 there were more than double the prosecutions for drug crimes in the City of Seattle than there were in all of 2024.
See the full report here.
