Greg interviews Officer Bud Lytle, a Public Information and Crime Prevention Officer for the Chilicothe Police Department. Bud and his department have shifted from traditional police tactics to approaches more in line with social work to help combat the growing opioid epidemic in their county.
Greg asks Bud about how the Chilicothe Police Department adopted this new model and began pooling resources throughout their community. Bud explains that they realized early on that their usual techniques weren’t effective, so they had to figure out a different approach. This led to a large meeting of nearly every entity and group in the community. “I mean there are 40 or 50 people sitting around the table, law enforcement included, and we decided we had to do something different. We have to find a way to attack this.” Bud continues, stating that in understanding the police force was on the frontlines for most of the calls, they had to do more than just arrest people – which led to programs like PORT (Post Overdose Response Team). “…The Post Overdose Response Team, [is a program] where law enforcement officers actually partner with counselors [and] go out into the community. Every overdose that happens in Ross County, we go visit that house. We knock on that door and supply them with resources, whether it be family support counseling or detox.”
Listen to the podcast to discover how these efforts across the community and the myriad of programs implemented by the Chilicothe Police Department have worked to lessen the impact of opioid abuse throughout their county.
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