MYRTLE BEACH, SC – January 27, 2025 – The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is proud to announce the latest installment of its Partner Spotlight Series webinar. Scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 27, this month’s event will feature Myrtle Beach, South Carolina community leaders, showcasing their city-wide coordinated response to addiction, mental health challenges, and housing insecurities.
The presentation will be led by:
- Amy Prock, Chief of Police, Myrtle Beach Police Department
- Joshua Eller, Officer, Myrtle Beach Police Department
- Mallory Colegrove, LMSW, Social Worker, Myrtle Beach Police Department
- Michelle Smith, Program Coordinator, Myrtle Beach Opioid Response Program
- Stephie Parran, Officer, Myrtle Beach Police Department
The webinar will highlight the importance of leveraging community partnerships, identifying service gaps, and creating actionable plans to address community needs. Myrtle Beach’s coordinated efforts emphasize education, awareness, outreach, and resource development. Since its inception, the program has made significant strides, including building stronger community partnerships, mapping resources, and creating a comprehensive resource guide.
“Myrtle Beach Police Department is a proud PAARI partner,” said Chief Prock. “We look forward to sharing our city’s efforts with PAARI’s network of law enforcement professionals and hope to inspire other municipalities to take similar steps to address the critical needs of their communities.”
“We are excited to have Chief Prock and her team presenting at this month’s Partner Spotlight Series,” said Brittney Garrett, PAARI Senior Director of Public Safety and Engagement “The team’s work in Myrtle Beach is admirable and serves as a fantastic model for other PAARI programs nationwide.”
To register for the Partner Spotlight Series presentation, please visit the registration page HERE.
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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 deflection programs (i.e., 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 800 police departments in 46 states.
PAARI works with more than 160 law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts alone. PAARI and our law enforcement partners are working towards a collective vision where non-arrest diversion and deflection 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.
ABOUT MYRTLE BEACH: The City of Myrtle Beach is a residential and vacation community at the heart of South Carolina’s Grand Strand coast. Our 35,000-plus permanent residents and millions of visitors enjoy wide beaches, warm weather and an incredible range of entertainment and activities. Myrtle Beach was incorporated in 1938 and became a city in 1957, when the permanent population first topped 5,000. The name “Myrtle Beach” comes from the wax myrtle, an abundant local shrub, and was chosen in a name-the-town contest in 1900. Learn more at cityofmyrtlebeach.com
