Participants in L.E.A.D.’s inaugural Community Prevention Officer (CPO) pilot program, including Capt. James Teehan, standing, right, discussed the outcomes of their community prevention initiatives during a panel presentation at the 21st Century Drug & Violence Prevention Training Conference on June 3 at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City. (Photo Courtesy L.E.A.D.)
PARAMUS, N.J. — Capt. James Teehan of the Paramus 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 a youth vaping prevention initiative tailored to the Paramus community’s needs.
Capt. Teehan 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 Capt. Teehan, that meant addressing the growing challenge of youth vaping by strengthening partnerships between law enforcement, schools, and the broader community.
Drawing on the prevention science principles taught through the L.E.A.D. CPO program, Capt. Teehan developed a comprehensive initiative that combines school partnerships, evidence-based education, community outreach, and policy development to reduce youth vaping while empowering students to make healthier choices and measuring the effectiveness of prevention efforts over time.
“We want to empower them to make better decisions because of the possible consequences,” Capt. Teehan said. “With the CPO program providing evidence-based, real-world reasons to understand the negative health effects of vaping, we now have the resources. That’s why we have this program. If you participate in this program, you now have resources.”
L.E.A.D. Executive Director and CEO Nick DeMauro praised Capt. Teehan for demonstrating how prevention science can help communities address emerging substance-use challenges through education and collaboration.
“Capt. Teehan exemplifies exactly what the L.E.A.D. Community Prevention Officer program was created to accomplish,” DeMauro said. “By combining prevention science with strong community partnerships, he is developing solutions that address the unique needs of his community while helping demonstrate how this program can strengthen prevention efforts nationwide.”
To learn more about L.E.A.D.’s mission to keep young people safe from drugs and violence, visit LEADrugs.org. To support programs like the Community Prevention Officer program, visit LEADrugs.org/donate.
About L.E.A.D. — Law Enforcement Against Drugs & Violence
L.E.A.D. — Law Enforcement Against Drugs & Violence — is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Allentown, N.J., dedicated to equipping law enforcement agencies with the resources, training, and curriculum to deliver effective drug and violence prevention education in schools and communities. Since its founding in 2015, L.E.A.D. has partnered with agencies nationwide, supporting more than 7,000 trained instructors who have reached more than one million students in more than 2,500 school systems. L.E.A.D. delivers prevention on the street and in the classroom through its Community Prevention Officer initiative and the Botvin LifeSkills® Training curriculum, the gold standard in evidence-based prevention education. L.E.A.D. is funded through donations and grants that support the organization’s national program and infrastructure, sustaining this work across every community it serves. For more information, visit LEADrugs.org or call 609-259-2500.
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