The Roundup: Seattle's New City Attorney Clears Up Controversy
From the Editor
What's up, South End?
2026 is here and I'm glad to be back.
We've made it past election season, and our new local candidates have all been sworn in.
And right on cue, in the first week of the year, we already have controversy.
On Jan. 1, the office of newly elected City Attorney Erika Evans sent out a memo directing staff to refer drug possession and public use cases to the newly formed internal team that would determine whether to prosecute or send cases to Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD).
A follow-up memo, written by Police Chief Shon Barnes and sent to all staff at the Seattle Police Department (SPD), included the language "all charges related to drug possession and/or drug use will be diverted from prosecution to the LEAD program." This email sparked a firestorm on social media, with right-wing pundits claiming the city of Seattle would no longer arrest people for public drug use.
Here's my initial take: Police Chief Barnes should, and hopefully now does, understand that any email he sends to "all staff" will become public. I can't speak on his intention, but his email leaked and Evans' email did not, which led to confusion and online chatter that became misleading to the public.
I spoke with City Attorney Evans and her team and with Lisa Daugaard, Co-Executive Director of Policy at Purpose. Dignity. Action. (PDA), the organization that works for the governing board of LEAD doing project management for the program.
My overall takeaway is that Evans' new policy is not a shift toward lawlessness or a free-for-all for public drug use. It's a correction in procedure from the previous city attorney that simply ensures each case of public drug use or possession gets reviewed internally at the City Attorney's Office by experts to determine whether the offender is eligible for LEAD. People who are eligible will be entered into the program, and people who are not will be prosecuted.
But I think it's important that our readers have the opportunity to hear directly from Evans. Here's my interview with the new city attorney.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
MD: Some accusations on social media said drug use would no longer be prosecuted. Is that true?
EE: That is not true. But there has been a lot of misinformation and mischaracterization.
MD: I've read the email that came from your office and the email that came from the police chief. For full transparency, can you explain what's going on for the public? Is this a change in policy?
EE: Officers have full discretion to make an arrest. What happens next is, the officer could have the training and know the person is dealing with substance use disorder and is a candidate that can be referred to LEAD. That could happen. Or, the officer could decide they are arresting the person and referring them to the City Attorney's Office for prosecution. That case would then come to us.
What we are saying, and what the memo we sent to the office is saying, is that we are going to ensure we are following what the law says. The law says that cases that are arrests for drug use or user quantity drug possession are strongly encouraged to go through LEAD or diversion. That is essentially what the memo says we're doing as a first approach, following the law, making the proper referral to LEAD. However, if someone is not eligible for LEAD, if there are other things additionally charged to that individual, or if the person has made no meaningful progress in LEAD, we reserve the right to use traditional approaches.
There was a report from the Department of Public Defense, and The Seattle Times reported on this too: In the last few years, this office, under the previous city attorney, was criminally charging people for drug use or user quantity drug possession, putting them into the criminal justice system without getting them actually connected with any services or treatment. It actually said that out of the 215 folks that got criminal charges here in this office, only six of them were connected with treatment, which means 97% of people are not getting treatment. So that means they're right back out on our streets and dealing with substance use disorder. It was also alarming that it said Black people were four times more represented in that body of 215 criminal cases. So we are just fixing the current state of affairs.
MD: What are the benefits of programs like LEAD? How do diversion programs benefit the public?
EE: It's a benefit to public safety when we are making sure we're really delivering on real rehabilitation and real treatment. When we provide the right response to really address underlying root causes, whether that's someone dealing with addiction or someone that is unhoused, it's going to make our streets safer when we are actually addressing what's going on and not just throwing them in jail. This is a misdemeanor court. They will be out in a day, if that, and right back out on the street again with nothing done, and that is not being a good steward of public safety.
It makes a difference when we are really providing the right response to stop the behavior, and that's what we all want at the end of the day. We want people to feel safe in our streets, and for all folks to be able to feel safe and thrive. And that comes with an evidence-based approach of actually wanting to solve what's happening, not just giving sound bites of things that sound good but actually are not working. And it's really clear that what has been happening in these last few years is not working. We must do more. The evidence is in the streets. We can go to 12th and Jackson. We can go to areas in Belltown. What currently has been happening is a failure, and we need to be smart and use the right approaches to really keep our community safe.
The Roundup Rundown
Last year, we saw a lot of turnover at City Hall during election season. Our previous Seattle City Council president, Sara Nelson, was among those ousted.
Emerald contributor Maya Tizon reports that the City Council has elected a new president, Joy Hollingsworth, and she's making history.
A small group gathered in Beacon Hill for a vigil to mourn the loss of a cycling community member near a hit-and-run crash site.
At the corner of Beacon Avenue South and South Stevens Street, attendees honored a cyclist from the Central District known as "Alley, Serge or Sergio."
Emerald contributor Nyla Moxley reports that community members are still awaiting answers for the cyclist who died after being struck by a car.
The Rainier Beach boys basketball team was active over the holiday break, playing in two out-of-town tournaments.
Emerald contributor Glenn Nelson was on the scene continuing our coverage of the Vikings as they chase legendary coach Mike Bethea's 10th state championship. And this trip saw some drama.
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Mike Davis is the newsletter editor and Voices editor at the South Seattle Emerald. Born and raised in Seattle's South End, Mike is a longtime journalist who's covered everything from arts and culture to sports to politics.
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