Wayne Police Chief Leading the Effort to Address Addiction in the Community

On Monday, May 8, Families Against Narcotics (FAN), hosted its monthly Public Forum at the HYPE Recreation Center in Wayne. The evening's topic of discussion was "Law Enforcement's Changing Perception of Addiction" and featured Wayne Police Chief Ryan Strong, who also sits on the organization's board of directors. FAN is a community-based organization that supports individuals and fam, it's not just 'lock 'em up,'" said Strong.

Strong, who started his career in law enforcement with the Wayne Police Department in 1999, says being a police officer was his ambition as a child, and helping people is his passion, so reaching out to those struggling with addiction or mental health issues is just part of the job. "The reason I like law enforcement so much is it gives you an opportunity to help people on a direct, face-to-face basis every single day of the week," he says.

In his 24 years with the Wayne Police Department, Strong says a majority of the action the officers see involves domestic assaults, traffic offenses, and thefts. In recent years, however, police departments all over the state have dealt with an increase in criminal activity which is rooted in substance abuse issues, which also entangle family members as well. The key, says Strong, is to look at the big picture and rather than just jailing someone for disorderly conduct or theft, address the substance use disorder and any and all issues the individual and their family may be dealing with at the same time.

"We also joined a program called the Comeback Team, so if we get dispatched to an overdose or any type of call for service where it's obvious that there's serious substance abuse at the house, one of our trained officers from the Comeback Team will go there with a peer recovery coach in a couple days and offer resources and see how they're doing." The Comeback Quick Response Team (QRT) Program, an initiative of FAN launched earlier this year, uses a community-based team made up of a plainclothes police officer, a peer recovery coach, and a family recovery coach. The teams perform outreach at the homes of individuals and families impacted by substance use and abuse, providing resources such as inpatient and outpatient treatment, peer and family recovery coaching, and referrals to other resources in the community.Often, substance use disorders go hand in hand with mental health issues which also require treatment and the Comeback QRT helps individuals and families find help. In Wayne, the Comeback QRT is managed by Officer Joshua Priebe, who says most families the team has visited in their homes have been receptive to the help being offered.

"That's an aspect of this that I like, we're not just going after the person that has an addiction but also the family and we're being there for family members," he said. "When you hear peoples' personal stories it really humanizes it a little more. The more I've learned the more you do learn that it is a disease, this is a struggle that I had no idea it's this bad."

In northwestern Wayne County, two police departments, Wayne and Garden City, participate with FAN's Hope Not Handcuffs Program, which allows for anyone struggling with substance abuse to walk into the police department and ask for help with addiction. A FAN volunteer will be called to assist that person in finding treatment. The Hope Not Handcuffs initiative is available at more than 120 police agencies and community partners in Michigan. Strong added, "The city of Wayne Police Department has done real well with Hope Not Handcuffs, for whatever reason, folks like coming into our police department and getting help so we must be doing something right. I would like to think that our police department in general has a welcoming aspect to it, that we're just friendly folks and that there's just a feeling that we want to help people."

To find out more about FAN go to http://[email protected] or see their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/WayneChapterFAN.