HACKENSACK, N.J. — Detective Felix Katsaroans of the Hackensack Police Department is one of the nation’s first officers to complete the L.E.A.D. Community Prevention Officer (CPO) program, helping pioneer an evidence-based approach to drug and violence prevention while building an overdose prevention initiative tailored to the Hackensack community’s needs.

Detective Katsaroans was among 12 officers from eight states selected for the CPO program’s first class. Following months of virtual and in-depth training in prevention science, strategic planning, and evidence-based practices conducted in partnership with Applied Prevention Science International (APSI), each officer assessed local community needs, developed a prevention initiative designed to produce measurable outcomes, and presented the project during the L.E.A.D. (Law Enforcement Against Drugs & Violence) National Training Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

L.E.A.D. created the CPO program to extend prevention efforts beyond the classroom by training officers to identify local risk factors, build partnerships throughout their communities, and implement prevention strategies that can be evaluated and refined over time. L.E.A.D. plans to expand the program nationwide as more officers become certified CPOs.

“Through the CPO program, we support officers working directly with the community to help them make their community safer,” said Nick Loizzi Jr., L.E.A.D. Vice President of Programs and CPO Coordinator.

Dr. Zili Sloboda, founder and president of APSI and a longtime member of L.E.A.D.’s board of directors, said the program introduces law enforcement to prevention science and helps officers develop community-based initiatives rooted in research rather than intuition.

“The role of the Community Prevention Officer is to expand this information to the community,” Dr. Sloboda said. “We’re hoping to have Community Prevention Officers get to know the community, recognize what’s going on and identify where the gaps are.”

For Detective Katsaroans, that meant addressing the growing need for overdose prevention by strengthening education, outreach, and community partnerships before tragedy occurs.

Drawing on the prevention science principles taught through the L.E.A.D. CPO program, Detective Katsaroans developed an initiative that expands substance use prevention through parent education, student outreach, Hidden in Plain Sight presentations, community partnerships, and strategic use of opioid settlement funding to strengthen prevention efforts throughout Hackensack.

“My experience with the Community Prevention Officer Program helped me better understand the mission and how to turn ideas into action,” Detective Katsaroans said. “It forced me to take a closer look at the challenges affecting our community and think differently about prevention, education and outreach.”

L.E.A.D. Executive Director and CEO Nick DeMauro praised Detective Katsaroans for demonstrating how prevention science can help law enforcement move beyond responding to crises and toward preventing them.

“Detective Katsaroans exemplifies exactly what the L.E.A.D. Community Prevention Officer program was created to accomplish,” DeMauro said. “By combining prevention science with community partnerships and evidence-based planning, he is helping build a stronger framework for overdose prevention while demonstrating how this program can improve public safety nationwide.”