About

Lars Paul retired as a Captain from the Fayetteville NC Police Department in December 2020. During his 25 years of service in the department he held a variety of positions. He has a BA degree from Fayetteville State University and is a graduate of the 247th session of the FBI National Academy.  He became involved in harm reduction in 2013 when, in partnership with NCHRC, he started the Department’s naloxone program, which at the time was the only the second such program in the state. Having developed a close relationship with NCHRC, the logical next step was to start a LEAD (law enforcement assisted diversion) program. Again, in partnership with NCHRC, Lars spearheaded the program which in 2016 was only the fourth of its kind in the nation. Lars continues to stay engaged in the harm reduction community by teaching harm reduction classes to police departments in Eastern NC, as well as making himself available to agencies nationwide who need technical assistance in developing their own harm reduction programs.