The Platte County Prosecutor’s Office has launched another program to divert offenders into treatment courts instead of detention.
County prosecutor Eric Zahnd presented the new program to county commissioners at the Monday, April 5 administrative session, held at the Platte County Resource Center in Kansas City. Commissioners approved the order establishing the treatment court at an initial cost of about $11,700.
Like its other treatment courts – veterans, DUI, drug and mental health – this court’s intent is to rehabilitate rather than punish. The new program targets first time, non-violent offenders.
“The idea is to take low-risk folks and instead of bringing them into the criminal justice system, we can provide them with education, make them do some community service, undergo some drug and alcohol treatment before they are charged with a crime,” Zahnd said.
Zahnd said the new law enforcement sales tax has allowed the hire of a staffer to launch and oversee the program.
The new program expands the existing treatment courts to cover those who may not fall under the umbrellas covered by those specialized courts.
“Hopefully many people will think this is a great opportunity to never have a criminal history and to get their lives back on track,” Zahnd said. “We’re hopeful we’ll divert a whole bunch of people from the criminal justice system and never see them again.”
Over the past year, the prosecutor, sheriff and judges have worked to keep the population at the Platte County Detention Center down to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 through the jail population.
Presiding commissioner Ron Schieber asked Zahnd to continue the efforts to keep that population down. Possible expansion of the jail has been a hot-button topic for the county over the last few years.