1 / 19

Engaging With Law Enforcement: Prevention, Monitoring and Response

Engaging With Law Enforcement: Prevention, Monitoring and Response. Basha Silverman, Brandywine Counseling & Community Services. Background. Law enforcement practices are a well-known risk factor for IDUs Deter uptake of preventative services (e.g. NEP)

giles
Download Presentation

Engaging With Law Enforcement: Prevention, Monitoring and Response

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Engaging With Law Enforcement: Prevention, Monitoring and Response Basha Silverman, Brandywine Counseling & Community Services

  2. Background • Law enforcement practices are a well-known risk factor for IDUs • Deter uptake of preventative services (e.g. NEP) • Deter summoning of emergency response to OD • Force injectors to locations poorly suited for hygienic injection • Increase improperly discarded syringes • Deter uptake of health services

  3. Background • Typically, negative health impacts are unintended • Police are ‘just doing their job’ • Police are often unaware of existing laws • Police see drug use through the lens of criminality, not health, trained to treat drug users as criminals, not people • Police are often unaware of evidence behind HR

  4. Background • Public health professionals typically fail to identify and address the needs of law enforcement in planning and implementation of harm reduction programs • Syringe access is good for everyone in the community, including law enforcement • Efforts to reduce the health consequences of drug use need not conflict with the goals of reducing street crime and enhancing public order • Successful integration with law enforcement is an essential element of successful NEP operation

  5. Law Enforcement/Public Heath • Same Objectives, different approach • Same: Safety, security, and cost-effectiveness • Different: criminalization vs. treatment and harm reduction • Cultural, political and language gap • Mistrust and antagonism • Many HR organizations have no (or negative) relationship with the police • Institutional competition for public resources

  6. Harm Reduction and Police? • Harm Reduction as applied to police: • High level of job-related needle-stick injuries • Very high levels of anxiety over NSI • Danger contributes to dislike of IDUs • Opportunity for HR orgs to reach out to police

  7. Prevention, Monitoring and Response • Forging institutional communication • Providing law enforcement training • Establishment of several negative feedback mechanisms that help check problems before they develop into dangerous

  8. Prevention • Interagency Communication: DE bill set up oversight committee comprised of public health, law enforcement & community • Knowledge of and agreement on law • Formulation of SOP around NEP • Police give needle vouchers to NEP clients! • NEP handles disposal for confiscated sharps

  9. Prevention • Police info card • Info on NEP • Guidelines on avoiding NSI • # to call for info • IDU focus groups • Experiences w/ law enforcement • Client KYR card, training and flyers

  10. Police Info Card

  11. Client KYR Card

  12. Client KYR Card

  13. Prevention – Police Training • Occupational Safety • Basic infectious disease info • NSI Prevention tips • Glove and sharps containers distribution (Site 2) • Law relating to Harm Reduction Efforts • Explanation of regulations on syringes • Value of Harm Reduction efforts to police and community

  14. Monitoring • Incident reports • Integration of questions into Public Defender intake • Lawyer training • Phone hotline • Police Liaison • Intake/Exchange Survey • Arrest • Confiscation • Interaction en route to/from exchange

  15. Response • Bi-weekly meetings between police and NEP • Administrative response to adverse events – open communication between NEP and police • Legal action • Can be lengthy, costly, and victory unclear • Even if you win, difficult to get the police to change their behavior

  16. Next Steps • Build peer/peer training capacity • Dissemination/refinement

  17. Important Principles • Police willing to listen to information that comes from other police: peer-to-peer • Police responsive to information that affects them directly (ie NSI) • Police are generally pragmatic – many think arresting for paraphernalia/simple possession is ‘a waste of time’ • Positive relationships are key: use official connections to establish credibility

  18. Conclusion • Harm Reduction is an effective, evidence based framework • If we continue to act as if we are ‘doing something wrong’ state actors will continue to act as if we are ‘doing something wrong’!

  19. Acknowledgments • Drug Policy Alliance • ACLU Foundation of Delaware • Rhode Island Foundation • Wilmington, DE Police Dept.

More Related