Delco treatment program is helping people struggling with addiction stay out of jail

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP, PA. (CBS) – An effort to help people struggling with addiction is picking up steam in Delaware County.

This week, a group of mental health experts visited the Swarthmore Police Department to raise awareness about the Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative (LETI). It's a drug diversion program in which low-level drug offenders can get their charges dropped in exchange for completing a free 90-day treatment program at behavioral health clinic MVP Recovery.

Corporal Leo Doyle, from the Ridley Township Police Department who works for MVP Recovery, co-led the training with counselor Phil Waibel.

"The hesitation with police officers might be just, not really understanding what the program is, what it does," Doyle said.

After learning from Doyle, Chief Raymond Stufflet, of the Swarthmore Borough Police Department, said he will encourage his officers to look for opportunities to refer more people to LETI.

"It doesn't add to the workload in the officers, but it definitely has the option of giving a better end result," Stufflet said. "What we've been doing for years, with just arresting and incarceration without a recovery option, it hasn't been working."

Heather Hertzog, from King of Prussia, graduated from the LETI program last year. Doyle arrested her for drug possession at Wawa on MacDade Boulevard in Ridley Township, but her charge was dropped after she completed the program.

She thanked him for arresting her that day.

"If he didn't help me out, I would still be out here getting high," Hertzog said. "He helped me. He really saved my life that day."