KINGSTON – The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office has received about $3.1 million in federal grants over the last few years to help combat the county’s ongoing opioid problem.
It has now secured $400,000 o implement a crisis intervention team to combat the addiction and overdose epidemic.
And with those federal grants, an Opioid Awareness Response as County Law Enforcement (ORACLE) team has been formed to work the streets and help out with overdoses. During the last few years of its existence, the ORACLE team has found that 28 percent of the overdoses have been intentional.
“They were suicides, and it’s absolutely incredible,” said Sheriff Juan Figueroa.
“It was either somebody said they were going to do it, or they left a letter. There’s proof of this, and we would never have if we weren’t on the front lines out there doing what we’re doing.”
Now the county has been awarded the new grant and established the Support and Advocacy through Front Line Engagement (SAFE) team to help offer more services facing county residents with addiction and behavioral issues.
The SAFE team will include a plain-clothes detective, clinical social worker and peer advocate hired through the most recent $400,000 grant.
“Being out there on the front lines gives us that advantage to offer services we never had before,” said Figueroa. “This will be a similar framework to that of ORACLE, but mainly focused on behavioral health or mental health.”
