Washington, D.C. December 13, 2023 – The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is excited to announce that it will be hosting an Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus Briefing titled “Police Deflection: Creating Public Safety Pathways to Treatment and Recovery for Community Members” on December 13th, 2023. The event is co-hosted by the Congressional Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery Caucus, and Co-Chairs Congressman Paul Tonko and Congressman Dave Joyce.
Today’s event will highlight the crucial work PAARI has done since its inception in 2015 and the steps needed to continue the life-saving work of deflection. Deflection, unlike law enforcement diversion, is the non-arrest pathway that assists those with substance use disorders into treatment and recovery. The event will feature perspectives from PAARI law enforcement partners in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Kentucky.
The caucus will begin with words from Lieutenant Lieutenant Ryan Macherone, Sgt. Nick Mannix, Jennifer Hayden, and Michelle Cejka of Schenectady, New York highlighting Schenectady’s Outreach Hub, which attempts to find better ways to serve individuals who are subject to repeated interactions with local law enforcement and hospitals. “My team and I are eager to share our insights on peer support and our implementation of the Hub model,” says Lt. Macherone, Schenectady Police Department. “We are proud to partner with PAARI and are honored that they invited us to speak at this key event.”
These comments will be followed by Captain Tom Fallon and Meagan Guthrie of Hamilton County, Ohio, who will be speaking about the Hamilton County Quick Response Team (QRT). The QRT is a co-responder deflection program that provides community-based services to connect local residents with the most appropriate care specific to their needs. “We are immensely proud of the QRT program that we have developed in Hamilton County and look forward to sharing our knowledge and answering any questions attendees may have,” says Capt. Fallon.
Chief Richard Sanders and Amanda Chapman from Jeffersontown, Kentucky will then speak about Jeffersontown Police Department’s REACH Program. REACH is a joint effort between local law enforcement officers and social workers to provide services for people in need. “Amanda and I are honored to be here today to share the work that we are doing in Jeffersontown. As proud partners of PAARI, we are always eager to help spread the word,” says Chief Sanders.
Finally, Lieutenant Sarko Gergerian and Meredith Hurley from Winthrop, Massachusetts will share insights about the Winthrop Community & Law Enforcement Assisted Recovery (CLEAR) program. CLEAR works to ensure that individuals seeking services relating to mental health and substance use disorders can receive a path to recovery and access to resources. “Winthrop CLEAR is a proud and longstanding partner of PAARI,” says Lt. Gergerian. “We are always looking for ways to share insights about our program and are grateful that we have this opportunity to do so.”
The event will come to a close with remarks from John Rosenthal, PAARI Co-Founder and Board Chair, and Zoe Grover-Scicchitano, PAARI Executive Director.
“I am honored to be here in Washington, D.C. alongside PAARI’s law enforcement partners from across the country,” says Grover-Scicchitano. “I am grateful to our partners for traveling to D.C. to discuss the importance of deflection programming and to our attendees for listening to our insights. I am confident that being here today will inspire hope and change within our current federal policies surrounding substance use disorder.”
Written by, Isabella Nowak
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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 44 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, and reshaped the national conversation about the opioid epidemic since its founding in June 2015. Learn more at paariusa.org.
