Last year, Annette Kahrs started Hope Not Handcuffs Hudson Valley, a program of Tri-County Community Partnership, Inc., to assist people seeking help with their drug or alcohol addiction. The program was first offered in the Town of Wallkill and has since grown to 25 police departments in four counties.
In 2016, Kahrs attended her first narcan training session as a community advocate. The response was overwhelming, so she conducted three more training sessions.
“It became apparent to me something needed to be done in this area,” she said. I reached out to some community stakeholders and said we needed to create a community coalition focused on drug and alcohol prevention.
Kahrs obtained a Drug Free Community Grant, formed a board, and created a 501c3 non-profit organization focusing on Orange, Ulster, and Sullivan Counties.
Over a year ago, Kahrs learned many members of the coalition had family members who struggled with addiction. Two of the board members lost their sons to overdoses.
“They wanted to know, ‘what can we do for the people who are already involved? What would make a measurable impact on those already addicted?’”
In 2015, a police chief in Gloucester, MA declared he was done arresting people who struggled with addiction and sought to create a program to get them help. From the Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative (PAARI), Hope Not Handcuffs Hudson Valley was created.
The program offers a safe place where people can walk through the door and get help with their addiction immediately. Since everyone knows where their police department is, a safe space was created. The departments which volunteer to participate make a pledge to not arrest anyone for using drugs if they walk through the door to self report. Kahrs said most of the people who seek help have never been arrested for possession.
Upon walking in the door, an officer will call the Hope Not Handcuffs helpline and within 30 minutes an Angel Coordinator will arrive to offer compassion and make calls to find the person a bed in a treatment facility. These volunteers undergo training in order to become an Angel.
Each police department keeps a large storage bin which includes a binder with resources and intake forms, HIPPA forms, and facilities which offer assistance. Also included are articles of clothing, personal hygiene products, toiletries, as well as letters, from recovering addicts, offering words of encouragement.
There are currently 25 police departments in Orange, Ducthess, Rockland and Putnam Counties. Fourteen of those departments are located in Orange County and include the Town of Montgomery, the Village of Maybrook, and soon the Town of New Windsor. The program started with 10 volunteers and now over 700 people have offered to be Angels.
In its first year, Hope Not Handcuffs has helped 100 people seek treatment.
Incarceration is not the place to recover,” Kahrs said. “My hope is the community will create the cultural shift we need to head in the right direction.”