Addressing the ever-changing nature of drug threats to communities
BY ANNA RUSSELL
In 2016, the chief of staff of the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program, Jeff Beeson, presented Roger Hartley, dean of The University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs, with a partnership idea that would benefit both institutions.
The regional HIDTA—established 30 years ago under the White House’s National Drug Control Policy—was searching for a new fiduciary body to provide oversight of its grant process. The program provides funding and resources to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies, along with drug treatment and prevention programs, to reduce drug trafficking and
production.
“When I approached Dean Hartley and explained that our job was to manage these federal grants and projects aimed at improving community safety, he also immediately saw the value in a collaboration,” said Beeson.
Instead of simply acting as a fiduciary body, Hartley suggested they “build something bigger, something that more accurately reflects the mission of the University.” The result was the Center for Drug Policy and Enforcement (CDPE), a joint effort between the HIDTA and UBalt, to bring together policy experts, advocates and scholars dedicated to using applied research methods to stop the proliferation of drugs and violence in our communities.
(Read “In Crisis, Hope” to learn more about the founding of the CDPE in the Fall 2017 Issue of The University of Baltimore Magazine.)
By 2020, the opioid epidemic became a public health crisis that forced another priority shift. The CDPE pivoted as well, becoming the Center for Drug Policy and Prevention (CDPP) and focusing on fostering collaboration between law enforcement and health and human services agencies,
as well as awarding funds for innovative prevention and treatment projects through the Federal Combating Overdose through Community-Level Interdiction (COCLI) Initiative.
But public health goes hand in hand with public safety when it comes to tackling the nation’s drug crisis, both demanding an equitable share of attention and resources to combat drug-related criminal activity and addiction. Beeson and Hartley once again saw an opportunity to be at the forefront of ‘something bigger.’
Earlier this year, the CDPP unveiled a new name, mission and executive director. Beeson took the helm of the newly minted Center for Public Safety Innovation (CPSI) in January after having served as the deputy director and chief of staff of the Center since its inception.
“When we first came to the University, the majority of our work was about interdiction, supporting drug investigations and funding other law enforcement initiatives,” said Beeson. This includes the development of HIDTA technologies designed to support interagency collaboration and intelligence sharing, including:
· Overdose Detection Mapping Application (ODMAP), a nation-wide system providing a near real-time surveillance of suspected overdose events to support public safety and public health efforts to respond to overdose events and save lives
· Case Explorer, one of three nationwide case management and deconfliction programs to support drug investigations
· and the Performance Management Process system, the nationwide HIDTA-wide database that measures impact and enables the program to report to Congress and the White House.
Now, the CPSI team is putting all that data collection to work to identify, evaluate and directly invest in practices and strategies that reduce violence, drug use, drug overdoses and drug trafficking in communities. And through the COCLI Initiative, they have distributed millions of dollars in support of innovative, locally-developed programs that are making strides in resolving these issues.
Additionally, Beeson and his team now benefit from the work being done in the Center for Advancing Prevention Excellence (CAPE). Established by UBalt late last year, CAPE is also promoting the integration of evidence-based strategies in their work, as well as applying lessons learned from prevention science, in order to increase protective conditions and reduce the
underlying causes of substance use and behavioral health issues.
This joint effort is having a significant impact nationally in supporting both supply and demand reduction efforts to address the nation’s drug threat.