Preventing Substance Use-Related Crime through Deflection

Authors

  • Daphne Baille TASC's Center for Health and Justice
  • Guy Farina TASC's Center for Health and Justice
  • Jac Charlier TASC's Center for Health and Justice
  • Hope Fiori TASC's Center for Health and Justice

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15222574

Keywords:

pre-arrest deflection, Non-violent drug-related crimes, Deflection, Crime Prevention, Public Health, Community Policing, Harm Reduction, Substance Use, Co-Occurring Disorders, Recidivism, Overdose, Community Safety, Criminal Justice, SDG 1, SDG 3, SDG 5, SDG 10, SDG 16, SDG 4

Abstract

This article discusses deflection as a crime prevention strategy that focuses predominantly on preventing offenses related to substance use and co-occurring disorders. Applying decades of lessons learned in crime prevention, public health, community policing, and harm reduction, deflection brings together law enforcement and community partners to improve community safety and advance public health. 

Author Biographies

Daphne Baille, TASC's Center for Health and Justice

Daphne Baille provides editorial assistance for TASC's Center for Health and Justice.

Guy Farina, TASC's Center for Health and Justice


As a senior program manager for TASC's Center for Health and Justice, Guy Farina delivers consulting, and training and technical assistance (TTA) as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) National Deflection TA Center. He also supports and supervises Program Managers in assisting public safety and public health agencies, with a primary focus on deflection and diversion.

Throughout his 20-year career, Farina has excelled at traditional and non-traditional policing strategies, advocating for those living with substance use disorders, adverse childhood experiences, special victim crimes, and their intersections. He is a former school resource officer, drug recognition expert instructor, and detective supervisor. He served as the Hudson Valley regional director for the New York Gang Investigators Association (NYGIA) and the regional coordinator for the Governor's Traffic Safety Committee's Drug Recognition Expert Program.

Additionally, Farina oversaw the first Diversion/Deflection Program in New York and became the first-ever Law Enforcement Liaison for "Hope Not Handcuffs" in the Hudson Valley.

He has become certified as a Victim's Advocate, Domestic Violence Advocate, Sexual Assault Advocate, Victim Impact Specialist, and Certified Forensic Interviewer of Child Sexual Assault Victims. He is certified in victim's assistance, crisis intervention, trauma-informed care, and a victim's impact to sexual assault and was certified as an Emergency Medical Technician for 18 years. Farina earned his BA in history and education from Concordia College.

Passionate about making a difference in people's lives, Farina is dedicated to enhancing collaboration between the police and the community.

Jac Charlier, TASC's Center for Health and Justice

Jac Charlier is the executive director of TASC’s Center for Health and Justice (CHJ) and co-founder of the Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative (PTACC). He is a co-founder of the international deflection movement, and works to grow and develop the global field of deflection from research to legislation to policy to practice.

CHJ is the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) COSSUP National Technical Assistance Center for Law Enforcement Deflection and First Responder Diversion. CHJ also was a founding organization in the first BJA Residential Substance-Use and Treatment (RSAT) National Technical Assistance center focused on substance-use in jails and prisons.

Charlier has authored numerous articles and publications on deflection, including the seminal 2015 Police Chief article “Want to Reduce Drugs in Your Community? You Might Want to Deflect Instead of Arrest,” which first introduced the concept of Deflection.

Charlier's core expertise is in crime reduction at the intersection of drugs and crime. He is a Global Expert Trainer in Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) with the US Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) working alongside international organizational partners including ISSUP, Colombo Plan – Drug Advisory Programme (DAP), UNODC, and Organization of American States (OAS) - CICAD. He also is responsible for the development of new and existing ATI Global Expert Trainers as the Technical Consultant for the International Consortium for ATI (ICATI).

Charlier is a member of the White House US Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Emerging Drug Threats Committee.

Previously, Charlier served in the Illinois State Parole Division and was promoted through the ranks from Officer to District Commander to Deputy Chief. He created the Division’s first domestic violence units, human trafficking response teams, and women’s gender-specific trained officers.

Charlier is a community organizer and civic leader in his hometown of Chicago, having co-founded several successful community initiatives. He is an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Outstanding Eagle Scout Medal. He is a U.S. military veteran, and a member of the American Legion and the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). He received his MPA from The John Glenn School of Public Policy at The Ohio State University and his BS in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana.

Hope Fiori, TASC's Center for Health and Justice

As the director of special projects for TASC’s Center for Health and Justice (CHJ), Hope Fiori leads a number of initiatives related to deflection and pre-arrest diversion, alternatives to incarceration, and linkages to care for individuals with behavioral health conditions, including substance use and mental health disorders. Fiori also serves as CHJ's project lead for the Bureau of Justice Assistance's Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program deflection TTA center.

Prior to joining TASC in 2019, Fiori was a program coordinator at the Cook County Juvenile Court Clinic, a clinic responsible for providing forensic clinical support to the Juvenile Courts of Cook County. There she was responsible for grant and budget management, and served as a liaison between the clinic’s partners, Northwestern University and the Office of the Chief Judge of Cook County. She also managed the clinic’s operational needs and supported its research initiatives.

Fiori earned her BS at Loyola University Chicago, where she majored in criminal justice and psychology. She received her master’s degree in public policy and administration (MPPA) from Northwestern University.

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Published

2025-04-22

How to Cite

Baille, D., Farina, G., Charlier, J., & Fiori, H. (2025). Preventing Substance Use-Related Crime through Deflection. Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Human Rights and Science, 7(2-8). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15222574

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2-8 (2025): Special Issue on Deflection: A New Horizon for Police, Public Health, and Community

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Articles

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URN

http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-2504221743228.329234682472

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Copyright (c) 2025 Daphne Baille; Guy Farina, Jac Charlier, Hope Fiori

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