ALPENA — The Michigan State Police Alpena Post initiated a new program Monday it hopes will lead to getting more people treatment for addiction.

The program is called the Angel Program and MSP, along with Northern Michigan Regional Entity, will provide addicts and opportunity to surrender themselves to law enforcement and be placed into treatment with the help of volunteers who have overcome addiction themselves.

MSP is the first state agency in the nation to participate in the program and joins almost 200 other police departments that are trying to find creative ways to get people battling addiction the help they need.

Community Service Trooper Ashley Simpson said a person who is dealing with a drug or alcohol addiction can turn themselves in at MSP and a brief background and medical check will be conducted. If they are eligible to participate in the program, an Angel volunteer will meet with them and transport them to the nearest treatment facility that has a vacancy. Simpson said the person will have an opportunity to hand over any unused narcotics and not face criminal charges. She said the person has to be willing to turn themselves in voluntarily and accept that they need help to get sober.

“The people have to be willing to do it and admit that they have basically reached their end and need help,” Simpson said. “This is not a get-out-of-jail card, however. You can’t do it from the side of the road with heroin while police are trying to arrest you.”

Simpson said there are many different types of addiction, narcotics use and petty crime in Northeast Michigan is on the rise and law enforcement and the judicial system need to be creative in the way they handle it. She said putting people in jail isn’t always the answer.

“There are tons of people who can take advantage of this because we are at the point to where we can’t arrest our way out of the drug problem any more,” Simpson said. “We need to seek help for these people in other ways.”

Simpson said The Boston Globe did a study and the results showed that when addiction rates improve, so does the amount of crime. She said that is a goal for Northeast Michigan.

“You see less cars broken into, less retail fraud and the petty property thefts decrease,” Simpson said.

As with any program there is a cost associated with getting people the help they need. Simpson said MSP has some money set aside to help cover the cost of the program, but donations are always welcome. She said cash and money orders can be dropped off at the post in Alpena, or can be mailed to:

MSP Angel Program Coordinator Grants and Community Service Division, PO Box 30634, Lansing MI 48909.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached via email at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter ss_alpenanews.