Dunn County criminal justice council cites substance-use and mental‑health needs, highlights treatment and diversion programs

Sarah Benedict, criminal justice director and manager of the Criminal Justice Collaborating Division, reported to the Dunn County Board of Supervisors on the work of the county’s Criminal Justice Collaborating Council (CJCC), emphasizing treatment-based responses, diversion programs and the council’s role in securing grant funding.

Benedict told the board the CJCC — established by a county board resolution in 2008 — brings 22 agency leaders and citizen members together to use local data, evidence-based practices and coordinated grants to reduce recidivism and improve community safety. "We use data and research to decide where to focus locally," Benedict said, describing pretrial assessments, law enforcement deflection, pre-charge diversion and treatment courts as parts of a systemwide strategy.

Why it matters: Benedict said the county’s local data show high treatment needs among people who come into contact with law enforcement and the jail, which shapes the CJCC’s priorities to fund and scale diversion and treatment services rather than relying on incarceration alone.

Benedict presented several local statistics from 2024: nearly 50 percent of law‑enforcement contacts involved substance‑related issues (drugs, alcohol or paraphernalia); among people subject to pretrial assessment in the jail, about 75 percent had a mental‑health diagnosis and roughly 85 percent had a substance‑use disorder, often severe. Benedict said the research literature supports focusing resources on medium‑ and high‑risk individuals while limiting involvement for low‑risk contacts.

Programs Benedict highlighted include law enforcement deflection and diversion, the district attorney’s pre‑charge diversion for first‑time, low‑risk offenders, the treatment opportunity program (a post‑charge diversion), medication‑assisted treatment started in the jail, a grant‑funded substance‑use counselor inside the sheriff’s jail, treatment court and family treatment court for high‑need participants, and community peer‑support services including the Kaleidoscope Center.

Judge Christina Meyer, current chair of the CJCC, told the board: "What we want these people to do is be sober. If they're sober, they quit committing crimes." Meyer credited Benedict’s leadership for organizing grant applications and local implementation; Benedict said the CJCC has brought more than $4 million to the county in the last 10 years to finance programs and create jobs and services. Meyer and Benedict both noted that not every program succeeds for every participant, but that the overall approach aims to reduce incarceration and improve family outcomes.

Several supervisors praised the CJCC’s work. Supervisor Story called Benedict "grade A" for leadership and noted state and national recognition of local programs. At the same time, Supervisor Hagan and others raised constituent complaints about gaps in service: stories were brought forward about people who said they were unaware of behavioral‑health officers, who reported losing housing after court involvement, or who said open cases impeded employment. Benedict acknowledged gaps can occur where agency discretion and case circumstances intersect and said those examples illustrate why the CJCC continues to refine systemwide coordination.

Benedict emphasized the CJCC’s data‑driven approach and competitive grant work, and she urged continued county support for the systemwide coordination that underpins diversion, treatment and reentry programs.