PINELLAS PLANS TO ESTABLISH DRUG COURT IN JANUARY

Non-Violent Offenders, Mostly Addicts, Will Go To a Treatment Center,
Also To Open in January, Instead of Jail

CLEARWATER -- After years of talk, Pinellas County's top criminal
justice officials have decided to follow a national trend and
implement a specialized drug court here in January.

The court, already up and running in Hillsborough and Citrus counties,
is designed to send non-violent offenders -- mostly addicts charged
with drug possession -- to treatment instead of jail.

Some Pinellas officials had resisted establishing a drug court for
years but were won over after St. Petersburg made plans to open a
secure drug abuse treatment center with 75 beds at the site of a
former nursing home.

The Family and Substance Abuse Service Center, the brainchild of St.
Petersburg police Chief Goliath Davis III, also is expected to open in
January at 1735 Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) St. S.

The combined program has garnered the support of Pinellas-Pasco Chief
Judge Susan Schaeffer, Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe,
Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice and Pinellas-Pasco Public
Defender Bob Dillinger.

"It's a very good step," Dillinger said. "It should help a lot of
people."

At first, the drug court would operate only in Pinellas. Schaeffer
said she does not have enough criminal court judges in Pasco County to
allow her to shift one to drug court.

Circuit Judge Lauren Laughlin, who will head up the Pinellas program
at the Criminal Courts Complex in Largo, and a not yet hired drug
court coordinator will begin working -- at least part time -- in October.

The coordinator's salary will be paid with a federal grant, but
Schaeffer said she also will ask the state to fund two administrative
positions next year.

Local officials do not know how many cases the drug court would hear
because they have yet to create guidelines on who could enter the program.

Dillinger, whose office handled 52,000 cases last year, said some
national studies show 60 percent of all criminal cases are drug- related.

McCabe said each case will be studied individually and that both
prosecutors and defense attorneys would have to agree before a case
could be brought to drug court. He said people who deal drugs probably
would not be eligible, but those charged with drug possession would.

In a typical drug court, a judge is assigned to oversee a strict
program of treatment and supervision for non-violent, felony drug defendants.

Most drug courts require participants to obtain a high school
equivalency certificate, stay employed and meet financial obligations,
such as child support.

They also are required to make frequent court appearances and undergo
regular drug testing. Those who fail drug tests or don't follow the
rules go to jail.

Supporters of drug courts range from President Clinton to Gov. Jeb
Bush, whose anti-drug initiative calls for spending hundreds of
thousands of dollars to help create more of these programs.

The first drug court started in 1989 as an experiment by then-Dade
State Attorney Janet Reno. Their popularity grew as court officials
saw them as an alternative to filling up jails with addicts.

A 1998 U.S. Department of Justice survey found the country had more
than 400 drug courts operating or being planned.

Hillsborough started its drug court in 1992 and Citrus began just this
year.

Schaeffer said Pinellas is able to establish a drug court faster than
expected because of Chief Davis' help to create a treatment center.

She and other criminal justice officials did not want to launch the
court without the facility.

"I think to make it work you need to have a secure treatment
facility," McCabe said. "If you're going to do it, you should do it
right.

In March, the St. Petersburg City Council approved plans by a non-
profit group, Bridges of America, to buy and renovate a vacant
building which would provide a residential treatment program and an
after-care service through a contract with the state Department of
Corrections.

A coalition of three other social service agencies will lease building
space from Bridges and offer tailored outpatient and inpatient help
for residents and others with substance abuse and mental illnesses.