Jac Charlier is the Executive Director of TASC’s Center for Health and Justice (CHJ) and Executive Director and co-founder of the Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative (PTACC). He is a co-founder of the international deflection movement, and works to grow and develop the global field of deflection from research to legislation to policy to practice.
CHJ is the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) COSSUP National Technical Assistance center for Law Enforcement Deflection and First Responder Diversion, and also the BJA Second Chance Act (SCA), Community Corrections and Reentry National Technical Assistance Center. CHJ is also a founding organization in the first BJA Residential Substance-Use and Treatment (RSAT) National Technical Assistance center focused on substance-use in jails and prisons.
PTACC is an alliance of 64 national and international organizations and is the global voice of the field of deflection. PTACC’s purpose is to grow and develop the field and movement of deflection and pre-arrest deflection/diversion globally, in all its forms and approaches.
Jac has authored numerous articles and publications on deflection, including the seminal 2015 Police Chief article “Want to Reduce Drugs in Your Community? You Might Want to Deflect Instead of Arrest” which first introduced the concept of Deflection.
Jac’s core expertise is in crime reduction at the intersection of drugs and crime. He is a Global Expert Trainer in Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) with the US Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) working alongside international organizational partners including ISSUP, Colombo Plan – Drug Advisory Programme (DAP), UNODC, and Organization of American States (OAS) - CICAD. Jac is also responsible for the development of new and existing ATI Global Expert Trainers as the Technical Consultant for the International Consortium for ATI (ICATI).
Jac is on the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Emerging Drug Threats Committee. Previously, Jac served in the Illinois State Parole Division and was promoted through the ranks from Officer to District Commander to Deputy Chief. He created the Division’s first domestic violence units, human trafficking response teams, and women’s gender-specific trained officers.
Jac is a community organizer and civic leader in his hometown of Chicago having co-founded several successful community initiatives. Jac is an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Outstanding Eagle Scout Medal. He is a US military veteran, a member of the American Legion, and the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). He played rugby for over a decade including at the club level. He received his MPA from The John Glenn School of Public Policy at The Ohio State University and his BS in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana.