Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Salt Lake City Police Department Partners With P.A.A.R.I. to Fight Opioid Addiction

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown, Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.) Co-Chairs John Rosenthal and Arlington Police Chief Frederick Ryan, and P.A.A.R.I. Executive Director Allie Hunter McDade are pleased to announce that the Salt Lake City Police Department has partnered with P.A.A.R.I. to better serve individuals and families impacted by the opioid epidemic.

The Salt Lake City Police Department and P.A.A.R.I. formally began their partnership in late 2017, bolstering the ongoing efforts of Operation Diversion — a partnership between Salt Lake County and Salt Lake City.

Since October 2016, Operation Diversion has helped place 246 individuals into treatment.

“The Salt Lake City Police Department is excited to join P.A.A.R.I. because we have been facing an opioid crisis in our community for the last several years and our officers respond to multiple overdoses on a daily basis,” Chief Brown said. “We know that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem and we believe that working with P.A.A.R.I. will help us actively contribute to finding a sustainable solution to this crisis.”

Through its partnership with P.A.A.R.I., the Salt Lake City Police Department will open its doors to those suffering from addiction — and their families — by referring them to treatment and recovery options in lieu of arrest and prosecution.

To help accomplish their goal of directing those actively seeking help to the most appropriate resources, Salt Lake City Police have enlisted the help of eight social workers who coordinate directly with those battling substance use disorders to support their recovery efforts.

Hunter McDade will be making a site visit in Salt Lake City this week and will be collaborating with officers on a presentation at Utah Valley University’s conference on addiction on Friday.

“The Salt Lake City Police Department has shown a deep commitment to helping those impacted by the opioid epidemic overcome substance abuse and rebuild their lives,” Hunter McDade said. “I’m eager to work hand-in-hand with the department and their local partners to build upon that foundation and make lifesaving recovery resources more accessible.”

About P.A.A.R.I.:

The Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.) is a 501c3 nonprofit with a mission to help law enforcement agencies establish pre-arrest programs that create immediate and stigma-free entry points to treatment and recovery programs.

P.A.A.R.I. works across sectors to provide training, coaching and support; program models, policies and procedures and templates; seed grants; connections to more than 300 vetted treatment centers; a network of like-minded law enforcement agencies; a unified voice with media and legislators; and capacity building through AmeriCorps.

P.A.A.R.I. is free to join and open to any law enforcement agency that believes in treatment over arrest and views addiction as a disease, not a crime. Since June 2015, P.A.A.R.I. has launched more than 375 law enforcement programs in 32 states, distributed 10,000 4mg doses of life-saving nasal naloxone and helped more than 12,000 people into treatment.

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