the special services docket exists as an alternative to traditional Prosecuting and sentencing of individuals that are that are charged with low-level Municipal misdemeanor offenses while simultaneously connecting them to resources to address mental health issues and substance abuse issues all of our charges are misdemeanors uh there are some that will keep you out of the program for instance crimes of violence um Pro high level property damage and anything that would put anybody at risk however most of the offenses that appear on the docket have to do with the condition in which the participant is experiencing like trespassing setting up an abat under a bridge substance abuse violations like public intoxication possessions of controlled drugs those are the condition the participants are experiencing those are the problems we hope to address the participants are paired up with case managers from our Therapeutics Community who work with them to gain access to the services they need and upon graduation open charges are dismissed zero cost to them fines and costs are suspended in other words forgiven and some of the more serious offenses that could hurt them in employment are dismissed and expunged at no cost to the defendant participation in the program is voluntary the only people that are there are people that want to be there and and in order to succeed they have to live up to promises that attend behave communicate look for direction in life and those are the things that will propel them through the program and those are the the goals we want them to meet past data has shown that around 90% of our graduates from the program uh will have no new charges within 6 months of graduation um that same data shows about a year out that it's approximately 7 25% if we could continue that with every participant throughout the trajectory of this program we would have a tremendous impact on our community