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INFORMATION ♦ EDUCATION ♦ ENFORCEMENT

THE EDUCATOR - Summer 2003

Weed and Seed

By Dee Koester, Law and Justice Planner, Thurston County Prosecutor's Office

Elected Prosecutor, Ed Holm and the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office continues to keep stride with the emerging needs of rural communities in south Thurston County. Two crime issues were causing a deterioration of quality of life for Rochester School District area residents. Domestic violence crime statistics were doubling, while other parts of the county reported a slight drop in statistics. Victim services are not locally located and were for the most part inaccessible to already isolated victims. In 2002, the office piloted an effort to provide victim advocacy services in the Rochester Weed and Seed area utilizing a Community Justice Advocate. The Community Justice Advocate is a model of service provision used widely in eastern US communities. The Advocate is a hybrid of the traditional community based advocate and a legal advocate.

When it was recognized that the County’s proactive nature of attacking the methamphetamine problem, via the Thurston County Narcotic’s Task Force and the newly formed Sheriff’s Office Special Enforcement Team (SET), would push “cookers” deeper into the rural areas and nearby reservations, the Prosecutor’s Office incorporated both focuses into one initiative - the Weed and Seed project.

The first consideration was to cover all of south county with the initiative. In the other parts of the US where the project exists, neighborhoods are chosen to be the “site”. The Rochester School District area was chosen as the “neighborhood” for this project.

Weed and Seed is not a program-it’s a strategy. It is an equal opportunity, stakeholder based initiative. All components are equally important to the process. The structure of the initiative is important to the longevity of collaborative efforts. The success of community initiatives rely on two important aspects of program development:

1) The strategy for reducing crime must meet the needs of the community. Every two years a community assessment must be conducted to make sure the strategy is on track. Focusing on meth and domestic violence meet the needs of the community.

2) The strategy must be supported by the community. Feedback and input into Weed and Seed processes is a critical component of the success of the project. Keeping appraised of the “weeding” strategy including coordinating “Safehaven” or “seeding” activities services is the role of the Site Coordinator.

The formation of an effective Steering Committee to oversee the implementation of the strategy and amend the strategy when needed is crucial. The creation of a core group to provide leadership, hold public meetings, attend existing community activities, and meetings is necessary to the promotion of the strategy.

If you are considering a similar project, the process is reasonably effortless, if you have a community that is engaged. It is desirable to have some skills in community mobilization and community organizing.

There are subtle differences between community mobilization and community organizing. Community mobilization brings people together to start discussing a problem or consider adopting a Weed and Seed model in this case. It doesn’t solve problems. It can help create a vision for a community with little resources. Community organizing, on the other hand, is based upon a continual commitment to the revitalization of the neighborhood. Community organizing focuses on a particular problem and promotes change. Both efforts are long- term processes. The identification of residents as leaders, utilization of formal and informal networks, and leveraging resources are important processes.

The Weed strategy can be structured in several ways. In many sites, police and prosecution tactics are the priority and activities involving other criminal justice agencies are placed on hold until local Weed and Seed efforts mature and change. Members of the Weed sub-committee represent law enforcement agencies within the jurisdictions in the designated area. Police and prosecutors from all levels of government (local, county, state, federal) should be represented on the sub-committee. Special consideration must be given to whether residents should be a part of the sub-committee. Members of the law enforcement community might resist having residents at the table when planning and coordinating law enforcement operations; the sensitive nature of the information discussed may take precedence over community participation.

Reviewing the Needs Assessment will identify Law Enforcement issues of greatest priority. The strategy should include the goal of developing long term working relationships that promote coordination and collaboration.

In February of 2002, Official Site Recognition was received from the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Executive Office of Weed and Seed by the Prosecutor’s Office. A federal grant award for implementation was received in March of 2003. With focused effort by law enforcement agencies (and possibly other unknown factors) the rate of meth lab busts decreased slightly in 2002.