St. John’s United Church of Christ supports Lincoln’s Safe Passages Initiative
Anyone with drug addiction can seek help without prosecution

[January 16, 2019]  On Thursday afternoon, Sandy Meinershagen and Tonita Reifsteck, representing the St. John's United Church of Christ Outreach presented Lincoln Police Officer Christy Fruge’ with a check for $189.28. The funds are for use in Lincoln Police Department's Safe Passages Program.

The Safe Passages Initiative is a new program implemented in 2018 by the LPD to assist those suffering with drug addiction get a fresh start in life without fear of incarceration. The process includes first recognizing that it is time to get help for an addiction. From there, the LPD is available to offer assistance to the addict to find proper treatment through drug rehab facilities.

Someone with an addiction need only to go to the Lincoln Police Department at 710 Fifth Street in Lincoln and ask for assistance through the Safe Passages Program. From there officers will work with the addict and LPD volunteers to find the proper facility and arrange transportation.

As part of the program, the LPD is prepared to offer material assistance to the addict. In many of the facilities, the addict is required to bring with them at least a couple of changes of clean clothing, and all the toiletries they may need. When the addict does not have these items, the LPD will see to it that the items are purchased and sent with the person entering rehab. The money raised by St. John UCC goes to assist the city in purchases.

In addition, volunteers transport patients. The volunteers use their own vehicles and are not paid mileage for their trips. The Safe Passages Program also purchases gas cards for volunteer drivers to help with travel expense.

Since the inception of the program in 2018 LPD has had 13 addicts come for help. All of them were transported to care facilities with the hopes that they would come out of the rehab program with a new outlook on life and no dependency on drugs.

In addition to the 13 who wanted to turned their lives around, Fruge’ said on Thursday that she has also assisted two other people who came to her seeking advice. She said the two had the support of their family and the family wanted to assist them in getting treatment. Therefore, Fruge’ said she was able to help and give the entire family the support they needed from the LPD.

The Safe Passages Program, as well as the drug take back program, are part of Fruge’ and the Lincoln Police Department’s participation in the war on drugs in Logan County. The LPD and Fruge’ are active with the Opioid Task Force of Logan County, which was implemented by the Community Health Collaborative at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital.

St. John’s UCC began working with the LPD to do fundraisers more than a year ago when members of their church discovered that they had a grandchild with drug addiction. The church began with fundraisers for Narcan, a drug that can be given to overdose victims that can bring them out of a drug induced unconscious state and saves lives.

The city of Lincoln first responders at that time did not have funding to equip everyone in the field with the antidote, so the church worked with the Logan county Department of Public Health to acquire and pay for the drug so that it could be provided to Lincoln Police Officers and the Fire Department's EMTs.

In 2018, the city of Lincoln wrote the purchase of Narcan into their annual budget, and helped relieve some of the need for fundraising for the drug. After consulting with Fruge’, the church then switched to focusing on raising funds for the Safe Passages Initiative.

With the new year upon us, now is a good time to make some changes if you are dependent upon drugs. Asking for help is as simple as walking in the front door of the police station and letting someone know you are ready to take control of your life, and beat your addiction.

You will not be arrested, and you will be treated with care and compassion, so take that step today.

Learn more about how the program works by reading information that is posted continually in Lincoln Daily News.

[Nila Smith]

Lincoln Police Department Safe Passages Initiative  pdf

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