KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — The effort to begin a Veteran’s Court in Kalamazoo has run into a funding issue and proponents have delayed implementation.
Kalamazoo County already has several specialty courts that will divert a first time offender with a substance abuse problem or mental health issues from the usual course of criminal prosecution.
Judges can compel offenders to seek counseling, treatment or any other help they need using as a motivator that failure will mean prosecution, perhaps jail, and a criminal record.
An event was scheduled yesterday at the Levine and Levine Law Offices downtown to announce that they were ready to start up a court that would provide specialized help for military veterans who had minor scrapes with the law, but instead it was announced that they don’t quite have the funding secured yet.
Judge Pam Lightvoet says some of the grants they were counting on didn’t come through because other counties have seen the value in specialty courts and are competing for the same dollars.
“We have a team that is meeting monthly and they are looking at all the options. We just don’t want to roll this out and have one or two years of funding, we want to make sure that they can be committed to this effort and continue on into the future”.
She says that means getting all their ducks in a row first.
The great advantage of such courts is they can compel violators to seek the help they need and use existing services in the community to provide that help. Bottom line, it’s a lot less expensive than prosecuting and jailing them and the both the offender and the community are better off in the end.
Prosecutor Jeff Getting says they are seeing vets come through their other specialty courts but they can’t always provide the specific assistance, access to services or address the special needs that Veterans have, like PTSD for instance. Veterans also have resources like the Veterans Administration that can be tapped.
Lightvoet says another program that Veterans courts can offer is a mentor program that matches up a vet in trouble with a veteran who can help guide their way back to being a productive citizen.
The specialty courts are reserved for those who can benefit from a second or third chance. Serious or violent criminals need not apply.
