FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Isabella Nowak, PAARI Public Relations – isabella@paariusa.org
TAMPA, FL – March 23, 2025 – The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 Leadership Awards.
Since its founding ten years ago, PAARI has grown into a nationally recognized nonprofit specializing in deflection, partnering with over 800 public safety agencies across the country. The 9th annual Leadership Awards, held at the Tampa River Center in Florida, honored individuals whose support of PAARI programs has been instrumental to the organization’s success.
“Deflection programs thrive because of passionate leaders like these,” said Zoe Grover, Executive Director at PAARI. “These awards are a way to recognize their hard work and say thank you for the meaningful difference they make every day in their local communities.”
Leaders in Community:
- Kelly Pompilio – Alexandria, KY Police Department Police Social Worker
- Tito Rodriguez – Gloucester, MA Police Department Community Health Navigator
- Lauren Sneider – Program Manager for BEST’s Criminal Justice Diversion Program, MA
Leaders in Public Safety:
- Arthur DePinho – Boston, MA Police Department Police Officer
- Renae Lockhart – Raleigh, NC Police Department Captain
- Connie Priddy – Director of Quality Compliance at Cabell County, WV EMS and Program Coordinator for the Huntington QRT
- Amy Prock – Myrtle Beach, SC Police Department Chief of Police
- Jeff Tate – Shakopee, MN Police Department Chief of Police
Outstanding Teams:
- Cayce, SC team
- The Courage Center: Amber Frazier, Trish England, and Pam Imm
- Lindsay McDade – Community Risk Reduction Manager, Cayce Fire Department
- Masters Inn Hotel
- Hamilton County, OH QRT
- Meagan Guthrie – Director, Hamilton County Office of Addiction Response and Civilian Programming Director of the Quick Response Team,
- Tom Fallon – Ret. Commander, Hamilton County Heroin Task Force and Quick Response Team,
- Abigail Fritsch – Grants and Strategic Initiatives Administrator, Hamilton County Office of Addiction Response,
- Michael Davenport – Commander, Hamilton County Heroin Task Force and Law Enforcement Director of the Quick Response Team
- Jeffersontown Kentucky REACH team
- Amanda Chapman LCSW – Community Resource Supervisor, Jeffersontown Police Department
- Tia Pank – Community Resource Coordinator, Jeffersontown Police Department
- Stacie Jones- Victim Services Specialists, Jeffersontown Police Department
- Chief Richard Sanders – Jeffersontown Police Department
- R2X Team
- Jason Bienert – Sr. Research Nurse · Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- Tracy Camacho – Clinical Research Coordinator, Thomas Jefferson University
- Dr. Traci Green – Behavioral Health Expert and Director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative
- Becca Olson – Project Manager, Opioid Policy Research Center, Brandeis University
- Dr. Mary Jo Larson – Senior Scientist, Opioid Policy Research Center, Brandeis University
- Dr. Megan Reed – Research Assistant Professor, Thomas Jefferson University
- Winthrop, MA CLEAR team
- Lieutenant Sarko Gergerian, MS, MA, MHC, CARC, RCP, RCPF – Winthrop Public Safety & Health Department, C.L.E.A.R. Team
- Meredith Hurley, RN, MPH – Director, Winthrop Department of Public Health & Clinical Services
- Retired Chief Terence Delehanty – Winthrop Police Department
Leaders in Government:
- Cory Booker – New Jersey State Senator
- Jeremy Drucker – Minnesota Director of the Office of Addiction and Recovery
- John Velis – Massachusetts State Senator
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ABOUT PAARI: Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, 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 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.
