BOSTON — The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative is excited to announce that the organization will hold its first National Law Enforcement Summit in three years.
From Nov. 14-15 at Boston University, PAARI will join law enforcement from across the country and public health partners for the organization’s first National Law Enforcement Summit since 2019.
PAARI’s National Law Enforcement Summit is an annual meeting that seeks to bring together public safety and law enforcement partners at any stage in creating or engaging in non-arrest programs that assist individuals into treatment and recovery. The summit is an opportunity to hear from public safety and public health partners about developments in the field, evidence-based best practices, and to network with other departments involved in similar work.
“Our work is at the intersection of public safety and public health” said Executive Director Zoe Grover. “Our summit seeks to bring together law enforcement from across the country so they can learn more about best practices, discuss their work, and share ideas while also hearing from other public safety and public health partners about up-to-date research and developments. In the two year hiatus between summits, the field has continued to grow and develop. I encourage law enforcement officials, whether they have an established non-arrest program to help individuals toward recovery, or whether they are only just starting, to consider such programs and join us for important and informative discussions, the latest information, and relationship building.”
The agenda will include presentations on addiction, use of peer supports, self-referral models, overdose outreach models, use of Opioid Settlement Funds, restoration centers, low barrier access to housing and treatment, stigma and language, plus two social networking events for attendees.
“This gathering will be unlike any other in this field. At this summit, police, public safety, and public health leaders will have a unique opportunity to network and learn about promising practices in the field of deflection, diversion, and co-response,” said Director of Public Safety Training and Outreach Brittney Garrett. “We are thrilled to be back in person and in Boston for our 4th-annual summit.”
To view a video recap of PAARI’s 2019 National Summit, click here.
To register for the summit, click here.
About PAARI:
The Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help law enforcement agencies nationwide create non-arrest pathways to treatment and recovery. Founded alongside the groundbreaking Gloucester, Mass., Police Department Angel Initiative in June 2015, PAARI has been a driving force behind this rapidly expanding community policing movement. We provide technical assistance, strategic guidance, connection to training resources, and other capacity-building resources to more than 700 police departments in 40 states.
PAARI works with more than 130 law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts alone. PAARI and our law enforcement partners are working towards a collective vision where non-arrest diversion programs become a standard policing practice across the country, thereby reducing overdose deaths, expanding access to treatment, improving public safety, reducing crime, diverting people away from the criminal justice system, and increasing trust between law enforcement and their communities. Our programs and partners have saved tens of thousands of lives, changed police culture, reshaped the national conversation about the opioid epidemic, and have placed more than 30,000 people into treatment since its founding in June 2015. Learn more at paariusa.org.
