20 Stories of Impact

Oakland County Sheriff, Michael Bouchard, has 37 years of law enforcement experience and has led the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office since 1999. It is one of the nation’s largest sheriff’s offices, with over 1,400 employees servicing a jurisdictional population of 1.2 million people. Prior to becoming Sheriff, Bouchard served in the Michigan State Senate from 1991 to 1999 and was the Senate Majority Floor Leader from 1998 to 1999. He has lived most of his life in Oakland County and has built the Sheriff’s Office into a community resource that does much more than traditional police work. “We have more community outreach and community programs than any other agency in America,” says Bouchard.

“We were one of the first to adopt embedded mental health training and crisis intervention for our Deputies. We spearheaded and got approval from the Michigan Legislature to allow law enforcement to have the ability to carry and use Narcan opioid interrupters to save the lives of people who were overdosing. Before it became the national trend, we had long been engaged in how we save lives and give people a second chance by following up with them and trying to connect them to treatment.”

Bouchard believes that reaching people in the community where they live and work pays dividends. He knows that the synergy gained by working together with other community resources creates outcomes that are greater than any agency working alone.  Together the Sheriff’s Office and the Alliance launched the prescription drug take back program, Operation Medicine Cabinet, which enables Oakland County residents to dispose of unused or expired prescription drugs while also keeping them out of the hands of unauthorized users. 

“We appreciate the work that has been done by the Alliance over the past 20 years,” he said. “By reaching children in the schools and by broadly educating community members on the dangers of drug misuse, the Alliance has been a valuable ally in diminishing the demand for drugs.”

Because Bouchard was instrumental in campaigning for his agency employees to carry Narcan, he believes that they have saved lives that otherwise would have been lost. He finds the work done by the Alliance with Save a Life Stations and Naloxone training throughout Oakland County fundamentally important. “These stations are installed in high-risk areas and provide vital and lifesaving overdose prevention resources to the community. The Alliance celebrated the 100th installment of a Save A Life Station in Oakland County earlier this year. We know that these efforts save lives,” he said. 

The collaborative efforts between the Sheriff’s Office, Oakland Community Health Network (OCHN) and the Alliance has been a partnership forged by need and the desire to build better lives and a better community. Says Bouchard, “Together we are making a difference one life at a time. As our organizations continue to grow and work together, we are seeing improvements in the number of people harmed by drugs and a better understanding in the community of the damage these substances can cause. I look forward to continuing to improve and expand our work together. I congratulate the Alliance on its 20th year of operation. The organization has grown and matured and does great work in our community. I look forward to our continued work together.”