Lodi Police Department
Keith Keough, Chief of Police
P.O. Box 95
Lodi, OH 44254
P.A.A.R.I.
Leonard Campanello, Co-Founder
John Rosenthal, Co-founder & Chairman
One Bridge St., Suite #300
Newton, MA 02458
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015
Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net
Lodi, Ohio Police Department Joins P.A.A.R.I. to Create Gloucester-Style Addiction Initiative
P.A.A.R.I. Gains First Police Department Partner In Ohio
“Begin Again,” Modeled After Gloucester ANGEL Initiative, to Start Jan. 1
LODI, Ohio — Police Chief Keith Keough, along with Gloucester Police Chief Leonard Campanello, and John Rosenthal, co-founders of The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.), are pleased to announce that the Lodi Police Department has partnered with P.A.A.R.I. to support the community’s program, “Begin Again.”
Through the department’s initiative, beginning on Jan. 1, Lodi Police will implement new addiction recovery initiatives and work with P.A.A.R.I. to place residents in need into treatment.
Modeled after the Gloucester ANGEL Initiative, the Lodi Police Department’s program encourages residents who want to overcome their addiction to simply walk into the police station, turn over their drugs and equipment, and ask for help. They will not be charged. Instead, they will immediately be placed into a drug treatment program, regardless of financial means or insurance.
“Even though were are small community, we, like numerous other cities and towns throughout the nation have seen the devastating effects addiction can have on our residents,” Chief Keough said. “We admire what Chief Campanello has accomplished in Gloucester and we are excited to replicate a similar model in Lodi while working with P.A.A.R.I. to give our residents viable options for treatment centers to get help.”
The partnership makes the Lodi Police Department the first P.A.A.R.I. agency in Ohio to announce the launch of an addiction and treatment program.
“Drug addiction has left no community untouched and as public safety officials we have the means to change the way we respond to this epidemic,” Chief Campanello said. “I commend Chief Keough for working to provide those struggling with the disease of addiction the resources they need to recover. The Lodi Police Department will have our full support going forward. I also commend Nicole Walmsley from Ohio, who has championed P.A.A.R.I.’s mission by visiting dozens of police departments. Ms. Walmsley, a recovering addict who is two years sober, has been in constant contact with our office in the hope that Ohio can effectively deal with this crisis. She is to be applauded for aggressively pursuing needed action to fight addiction.”
Lodi Police will remain aggressive in enforcing the laws pertaining to drug distribution and trafficking, but are committed to providing help and resources to those struggling with addiction.
By working with the Cleveland Clinic/Akron General Medical Center, all Lodi police cruisers were equipped with Nasal Narcan earlier this year and police have saved two people using the opioid reversal drug. To date, the community has not lost any residents to drug overdoses.
Through its partnership with P.A.A.R.I., the Lodi Police Department will have access to a large and growing network of drug detox and long-term treatment centers around the nation, which have agreed to support police with helping place people into treatment.
Officers will also work to set up community meetings to train family and friends of loved ones struggling with addiction on how to use Nasal Narcan and provide resources on how residents can obtain the life-saving drug.
“Lodi Police joining P.A.A.R.I. means our efforts have reached another state, community and set of people who are looking to get help recovering from their addiction,” Rosenthal said. “We will work collaboratively with the department to place every resident that enters the Lodi station asking for help into a treatment center that fits their needs.”
About P.A.A.R.I.
P.A.A.R.I. was started to support local police departments as they work with opioid addicts. Rather than arrest our way out of the problem of drug addiction, P.A.A.R.I. committed police departments:
- Encourage opioid drug users to seek recovery
- Help distribute life saving opioid blocking drugs to prevent and treat overdoses
- Connect people suffering with opioid addiction with treatment programs and facilities
- Provide resources to other police departments and communities that want to do more to fight the opioid addiction epidemic
P.A.A.R.I. was created by Gloucester Police Chief Leonard Campanello and John Rosenthal to bridge the gap between the police department and people suffering from the disease of opioid addiction seeking recovery.
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