Police Training to Align Law Enforcement and HIV Prevention: Preliminary Evidence From the Field

Abstract

Having identified gaps in implementation of Rhode Island's syringe access law and police occupational safety education, public health and police professionals developed police training to boost legal knowledge, improve syringe access attitudes, and address needlestick injuries. Baseline data (94 officers) confirmed anxiety about needlestick injuries, poor legal knowledge, and occupational risk overestimation. Before training, respondents believed that syringe access promotes drug use (51%), increases likelihood of police needlestick injuries (58%), and fails to reduce epidemics (38%). Pretraining to posttraining evaluation suggested significant shifts in legal and occupational safety knowledge; changes in attitudes toward syringe access were promising. Training that combines occupational safety with syringe access content can help align law enforcement with public health goals. Additional research is needed to assess street-level effect and to inform intervention tailoring.

Syringe Confiscation as an HIV Risk Factor: The Public Health Implications of Arbitrary Policing in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

“…A public health approach to curbing these activities dictates integrating effective prevention (e.g., policy reform and police training), systematic monitoring (e.g., inclusion of variables such as experience of syringe confiscation in behavioral surveillance surveys of IDUs and FSWs), and multi-level response interventions (punishment of perpetrators). [58][59][60][61] Consistent process evaluation and research on police knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes must accompany these efforts, with feedback used to inform program tailoring.…”

“…28 This reform should be accelerated, with special emphasis on structural interventions designed to align law enforcement and public health. 58,59 Implementation of these policy reforms may be limited by resource constraints, lack of political will, and governance failures. 4,6,26,28,31,62 Auxiliary mechanisms such as making federal grants contingent on specific implementation targets may improve policy implementation.…”

Police Officers’ and Paramedics’ Experiences with Overdose and Their Knowledge and Opinions of Washington State’s Drug Overdose–Naloxone–Good Samaritan Law

“…3,15 Previous research suggests that police are sometimes under-informed, and often ambivalent to public health laws, especially those based in a risk reduction framework. 16,17 In June 2010, Washington State became the second state to enact legislation to address these issues (Revised Code of Washington 69.50.315). 18 The law included both a Good Samaritan immunity provision for overdose victims and bystanders who seek medical aid, as well as allowed for naloxone to be prescribed to those at risk for having or witnessing an opioid overdose.…”

Police Victimization Among Persons Who Inject Drugs Along the U.S.–Mexico Border

“…Such interventions should consider crucial physical markers that may increase susceptibility to police targeting and victimization, as well as migration status, drugusing behaviors, and types of drugs. Increased partnerships and collaboration between public health agencies and police may help align law enforcement with HIV prevention efforts (Beletsky et al, 2011a;DeBeck et al, 2008;Kerr et al, 2005). Police education programs that incorporate topics of harm reduction and HIV prevention are currently underway in Tijuana (Scholl & Nicholson, 2010).…”