The city of Paterson, New Jersey, is the third-largest city in the state and serves as the seat of Passaic County. It is located along major interstate thoroughfares within miles of the New York City and state borders and those of Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The Partnership Project lead is the Paterson Police Department (PD). Analysis of overdose and treatment data during the planning phase led to the designation of a “high-risk corridor” where a disproportionate number of overdoses occur. Currently, Paterson PD is implementing two activities:

• Funding a community partner to provide education and outreach in the high-risk corridor. The agency will provide substance abuse education to reduce stigma and raise awareness of community treatment and recovery resources, including medication assisted treatment (MAT). The partner agency will also provide individualized outreach to overdose victims and link them to treatment.
• Paterson PD’s data manager and research partner are working with the City Department of Public Safety to facilitate the overdose data collection and analysis to support the overdose outreach activities.