Badges of Hope
Expanding on the call to serve and protect, the McCracken County Sheriff’s Office is offering help and hope through their latest initiative.
Called Badges of Hope, the program allows those suffering with addiction the ability to seek help from the sheriff’s office, hopefully, before they face criminal charges or tragedy happens. The program connects individuals with regional rehabilitation facilities. Their first partnership has been through Kentucky Addiction Center (KAC).
“We are trying to arm deputies with an extra tool to provide to those in need,” said McCracken County Sheriff Matt Carter. “This (program) isn’t to be used in place of enforcing the law—we are very vigorous on law enforcement efforts. But never in my career have we had the ability to provide this angle of support to those battling addiction (until now)…We are hoping to combat this problem from the inside out.”
So, how does it work? According to the agency’s website, after an individual has identified that they are in need of help battling their addiction, they can call the sheriff’s office’s non-emergency line and request assistance through the Badges of Hope program. Once substance addiction assistance is requested, the individual will receive transport to a treatment center partner, regardless of insurance status.
Carter said after the idea for the program sparked, he met with the owners of the rehab facility. KAC owner Kristy Wireman says that teaming up with MCSO was a no brainer.
“We have been trying to get communities to join forces because we feel like if they don’t join forces and approach addiction problems at every stage, we aren’t going to beat it,” she said.
For Badges of Hope, KAC is able to provide outpatient care, counseling and peer support, as well as resources to assist with bills, housing and food, said Wireman.
Interest to start the program developed for Carter as his agency participated in large crystal meth seizures, during drug enforcement efforts. Additionally, crime trends for the area showed that drug crimes were increasing as other offense rates were going down.
“We want (people) to recognize that it’s not about putting people in jail, but helping them change their lives and overcome addiction,” Carter explained. “Sometimes the first step is getting caught. I’ve seen many people who get arrested and then went through rehab, and it took that to get to them. But if we can offer hope before they get to that point, they accept it and acknowledge they have a problem and reach out—we can offer them (help) and we can offer them hope.”
The McCracken County sheriff said several other surrounding agencies have signed on to take part in the program. Additionally, he urged agencies across the state to look into either partnership or beginning programs of their own.
