Coordinator
Madison Area Recovery Initiative
Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Captain Joe Balles retired from the Madison Police Department in 2016 following a 32 plus year LE career. In March 2017, Captain Balles returned to MPD to provide project coordination services for a new USDOJ grant funded project to address the opioid epidemic called the "Madison Area Recovery Initiative" (MARI). In his role as MARI Project Coordinator since 2017, Captain Balles has helped MPD to both sustain and grow a community policing-partnership based model to reduce the incidence of overdose and overdose related deaths throughout Dane County. Captain Balles has co-authored several peer reviewed academic papers related to MARI's pre-arrest diversion and harm reduction pathways with public health researchers from UW-Madison and Penn State University. Captain Balles proudly continues to serve as MARI Project Coordinator today.
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM MT