To combat the opioid epidemic occurring across the nation, the city of Binghamton is coming together to curb local addiction and crime.

Jared Kraham, deputy mayor of the city of Binghamton, said that in the last five years, opioid-related overdoses or deaths have increased significantly in the community.

In response to the epidemic, the Binghamton Police Department (BPD) has been taking a different approach. According to Kraham, Mayor Rich David expanded the community response team by two officers. The group goes out into the community to make direct contact with residents concerning drug use, and in 2015, there were 644 drug-related arrests by the community response team.

“They’re not responding to calls, they’re seeking resident input,” he said. “They’re going into the areas of high crime. That’s really a very progressing policing strategy and it really is helping in the city’s efforts to get more heroin off these streets.”

In April of 2014, David first allowed all BPD officers to carry naloxone, the heroin overdose reversal medicine. Kraham said that currently, close to 100 lives have been saved by using the medicine. Similarly, in March, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that naloxone would be available at all independent pharmacies across New York state.

“By making this lifesaving medication available in drugstores without a prescription, we are continuing to prevent needless tragedies from occurring and ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to this critical medication,” Cuomo said in the press release.

Broome County was also one of 14 counties in the nation named a “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area” in January by the federal government. The designation prioritizes funding for the area to treat and control drug trafficking and abuse, but Kraham said it is currently too early to fully feel the impact of the designation.

Two weeks ago, however, the city of Binghamton teamed up with Fairview Recovery Services on Merrick Street to create the Intensive Care Navigator Program. This connects patients discharged from the organization’s Addiction Crisis Center to a care navigator.

Kraham said these navigators will assist discharged patients until they are placed in long-term treatment facilities.

“Locally, 40 percent of individuals who leave a crisis center fail to enter a long-term treatment program, most likely returning to the habits and the lifestyle that they’ve been trying to escape,” Kraham explained. “And that’s really the first time the city has looked beyond simply enforcement of our drug laws and taking drugs off our streets and focusing more on the treatment process for addicted individuals.”

The program will last for two years and cost the city and Fairview Recovery Services $80,000, which is coming from community block development grants.

“When issues pop up like heroin that have the ability to really take over certain parts of the community, you have to shift resources,” Kraham said. “You have to budget and shift resources to the problems where they exist.”

Fairview Recovery Services also received $3.6 million in December from the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. This state funding will create a new 18-bed facility at Fairview for women suffering from substance abuse and will allow children to remain with their mothers during residential treatment.

“Addiction often tears families apart and mothers in recovery in our community face significant obstacles in holding their lives together,” Michele Napolitano, the executive director at Fairview, said in the press release. “Fairview’s new women’s community residence will allow mothers and children to remain together in care that supports sobriety and family permanence at a time they need it most.”

Kraham said that the Fairview partnership is the city’s first step in treating addiction after arrest and both the city and county are looking forward to how the program develops to help curb opioid use and crime.

“From a regional standpoint, everyone is doing different projects as it relates to the different layers of government,” he said. “Elected leaders are really banding together to try to tackle this issue.”