Chief Scott Allen
Chief of Police, East Bridgewater, MA
Member, Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) National Police Advisory Committee
Chief Scott Allen has been an East Bridgewater police officer since 1995. He has served as a patrol officer, detective, drug task force commanding officer, and sergeant detective before becoming chief of police in 2016. Allen holds a bachelor’s degree from Plymouth State University in physical education teacher certification and Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Western New England University.
Allen is a member of Governor Baker’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Council. Allen is an instructor for the Massachusetts Police Training Council. He is the sergeant at arms for the Southeastern Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association as well as a member of the Plymouth County Chiefs of Police Association and Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association.
Allen was appointed to the national law enforcement council of the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.) in 2017. P.A.A.R.I. is a leading national advocacy organization comprised of nearly 300 police departments from across the country who are committed to implementing community outreach programs to assist those impacted and affected by the opioid crisis and substance use disorders.
In 2015, Allen helped create a regional drop-in center to assist those suffering from substance use disorders (SUDS) in his region. In 2016 he partnered with Plymouth Police Chief Michael Botieri to establish a county-wide SUDS outreach program, Plymouth County Outreach (PCO). PCO is a collaboration of the 27 municipal police departments in Plymouth County, as well as Bridgewater State University Police Department, engaging in a partnership with dozens of non-law enforcement partners in healthcare, treatment, recovery, local coalitions, faith-based community, and the county’s hospitals in order to help those suffering from substance use disorders, by introducing them to different pathways to treatment, while offering caring, compassionate support for those suffering, and also support to their family members and loves ones.
PCO has an advisory board of police chiefs and physicians from hospital partners located throughout the region. Collectively, this public health and law enforcement collaboration works together to lead and management PCO. PCO has nearly 100 dedicated police officers who support PCO as data designees, working with PCO’s innovative public monitoring overdose system, while other officers participate in PCO as outreach officers, who conduct post-overdose home follow-up visits with recovery coaches, clinicians and/or social workers. In October 2018, PCO was awarded a $496,000 federal grant from the Bureau of Justice Administration to enhance and improve the PCO county-wide model. PCO is presently working to collaborate and incorporate a complete behavioral health approach to its model, addressing mental health and substance use disorders.