BY KYM LIEBLER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- To reduce the number of nonviolent criminals who slip back into a life of drugs and alcohol, Warren County is creating a program called Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime (TASC).
Using a $220,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, county leaders hope to break the abuse cycle that repeatedly leads men and women back to jail.
The idea to apply for the grant grew out of a spring meeting among members of the Warren County chapter of the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati.
The group of law enforcement officials and substance abuse professionals were dismayed to learn that 50 percent of the county's nonviolent criminals were testing positive for drug or alcohol abuse during their probation, said Gloria Dillinger, who will become director of TASC Aug. 10.
"We were shocked. As we looked at the number of probationers who were testing positive for drugs, it told us one thing: They're not staying clean."
In TASC, nonviolent criminals on probation for either a felony or misdemeanor or those released from a county jail or state prison on probation will be subject to "heavy-duty urine screens," Mrs. Dillinger said.
That means they could be drug-tested daily.
TASC staff also will visit homes and job sites and talk to family members to make sure probationers are staying off drugs and alcohol. Each offender accepted into TASC will likely be monitored by the group for at least one year, Mrs. Dillinger said.
"This will give us a much more consistent and measured response to any problems that occur," said Warren County Prosecutor Tim Oliver.
"It's the support services these people need on a daily basis," said Mr. Oliver, who also is chairman the Warren County Community Corrections Planning Board, which will monitor the program.
With the grant, Warren County will establish the ninth TASC program in the state, according to Michael Link, assistant chief for the Division of Program Planning for the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.
State recidivism rates, or how many criminals commit another crime after their first conviction, shows 25 percent of criminals who do not go through drug and alcohol programs commit another crime, Mr. Link said.
The recidivism rate drops to 7 percent for those who comply with drug and alcohol programs, he said.
Clermont County, the only other Tristate county to have a TASC program, has seen its recidivism rates fall sharply, Mrs. Dillinger said.
Of the 2,101 people on probation who have gone through Clermont County's TASC since October 1992, only 2 percent have been convicted of new charges.
