ESCANABA, MI-- The Escanaba Department of Public Safety is launching a new drug addiction and rehabilitation initiative called the Angel Program.
Lieutenant Robert LaMarche says under the program an addict voluntarily goes to the police department. If they have drugs with them officers will dispose of them and the addict will not be charged. The person will go through an intake process, and police will call an “Angel.”
“An Angel is a volunteer from the community that shows up at our department,” LaMarche says, “and the Angel would then take that person immediately, or as soon as possible, to a treatment facility here in Michigan.”
LaMarche says studies in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where the program started, indicate it has a positive effect on the crime rate.
“They’ve seen a 30-percent drop in their—we’ll call them petty crimes: your shopliftings, your car B&Es—theft crimes of that nature. People that, you know, to get their high they need money, so they’re typically stealing things to get that money.”
LaMarche says his department is working on having jobs available for the addict when they graduate from treatment.
Funding for the program comes from an area church and the Escanaba Community Foundation. Officials have $10,500 to pay for Angels’ gas, food, and lodging.
LaMarche says officials are hoping to launch the Angel Program in the first part of March.
