The day after 16 drug dealers were told by Seattle police to go straight or go to prison, one of gthem was arrested for an alleged drug crime in an area that police are trying to clean up, reports the Seattle Times. The accused dealer had participated in an “intervention” at which police, prosecutors, family members, friends and neighbors told the dealers they would no longer tolerate their lawbreaking. He was arrested on suspicion of a felony drug offense 24 hours later.
Borrowing a tactic pioneered in High Point, N.C., authorities gave 18 local drug dealers an ultimatum to attend the meeting, where they would get support to turn their lives around, or they would be arrested and prosecuted on felony drug charges. The 16 who attended the meeting were offered drug treatment, education, job training and housing assistance – but only if they stopped selling drugs along a targeted strip in the city.