Franklin County sheriff's initiative gets help to those struggling with addiction
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office conducted a multi-day initiative to help people who are struggling with addiction get connected to much-needed resources.
The initiative was called Operation BRIDGE, which stands for Bridging Recovery and Interdiction Data Gathering Enforcement.
The sheriff’s office said there are many people in central Ohio who are addicted to drugs and some are engaging in sex work just to survive. The goal of Operation BRIDGE was to help people get out of this unforgiving cycle.
“The hope, I guess you can say, is that these people realize that there is a way out of the substance abuse loop,” said Sgt. Jeff Zech with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.
Zech said that during the operation, he had an eye out for people on the streets who looked to be addicted to drugs and in need of help.
“It’s actually geared towards getting these individuals into treatment programs, which they would benefit more as opposed to just taking them to jail, locking them up and walking away,” Zech said.
Through Operation BRIDGE, sheriff’s deputies would go around and try to approach people who are battling addiction and potentially using sex work to get by.
Most of the people they approached were not required to get in the car and go with the deputy, but if they did, they were taken to a resource area.
“Once they realize that we’re not running people for warrants, we’re not necessarily trying to take somebody to jail, they're a little bit more receptive to it,” Zech said.
At the resource area, the people were able to get connected to healthcare, food, Narcan, clothes and water. They were also given the option to be taken right from there to treatment.
“If somebody says that they want a treatment service, we can take them there right now as opposed to them having to wait for a couple weeks or a month for a bed to open up,” Zech said.
Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said Operation BRIDGE was a big success in years past.
“To continue to respond and just put people in jail and come back and do it over and over doesn’t really achieve the goal,” Baldwin said. “So our goal is to have more services available immediately and hopefully it’ll have an impact on somebody’s life and save their life and break that cycle.”
Baldwin said that last year, multiple people went right to treatment programs for drug addiction.