Burlington — Representatives from more than two dozen nonprofits and governmental agencies gathered around tables arranged in a horseshoe on Thursday morning in the auditorium at City Hall.

It was the first official meeting of a recently formed working group that has given itself the lofty mission of bringing an end to the opioid crisis in Burlington and Chittenden County.

“There will always be drug use, but it doesn’t have to be a crisis,” Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said. “Things are a crisis when they’re unpredictable and pose an imminent threat to a large portion of the population.”

The CommunityStat team, as the group is known, plans to use a collaborative data-driven model that has been employed around the country to address challenges cities face.

The chief, who has been on the job for just over a year, is the impetus for the new group, having floated the idea six months ago as a way to bolster ongoing efforts at the state and local level.

Del Pozo is familiar with the Stat model from the nearly two decades he spent with the New York Police Department, where the system was developed and first put to use. He introduced the concept to group members at an informal meeting in September.

The model has four basic components or principles for addressing a problem, the chief said at a Thursday news conference after the group’s first official meeting. Those are timely and accurate information gathering; development of effective responses; rapid deployment of resources; and relentless follow-up and assessment of outcomes.

Cathy Aikmen, policy director for the Chittenden County Opioid Alliance, described it as “collaboration on steroids.”

“I think people are very ready to have these conversations, not in the parking lot, but around the table with their partners,” said Jane Helmstetter, director of the Agency of Human Services Burlington field office.

CommunityStat will fall under the Chittenden County Opioid Alliance umbrella. Members include city and state government agencies, the University of Vermont Medical Center, Howard Center, United Way of Northwestern Vermont, Spectrum Youth and Family Services and many others. The alliance’s $300,000 budget is paid for with grants, said Martha Maksym, United Way executive director.

Part of CommunityStat’s work will be to coordinate case management for people with addiction as they pass between social service nonprofits, medical providers, government agencies and law enforcement. If successful, it could save lives by helping end the cycle of drug abuse, incarceration and overdose.