Attitudes of police officers towards syringe access,occupational needle-sticks,and drug use: A qualitative study of one city police department in the United States |
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| Institution: | 1. Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy, Dayton, OH, USA 45435;2. Lorain County Coroner, 5 South Main St, Suite 304, Oberlin, OH, USA 44074;1. Center for Social Medicine and Humanities, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States;2. Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, California, United States;3. Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States;4. School of Law, Department of Health Sciences, and Health in Justice Action Lab, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States;5. Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States;6. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Beltsville, Maryland, United States;1. Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, Grayken Center for Addiction, Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit, Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, 801 Massachusetts Ave, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02118, United States;2. Northeastern University School of Law and Bouvé College of Health Sciences, 416 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, United States;3. Health in Justice Action Lab, Northeastern University, 416 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, United States;4. Department of Sociology & Anthropology, North Carolina State University, 10 Current Drive, Raleigh, NC 27605, United States;5. Department of Medicine, Brown University 222 Richmond St. Providence, RI 02903, United States;6. Social Science Research and Evaluation, Inc., 21-C Cambridge St., Burlington, MA 01803, United States;7. The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, Institute for Behavioral Health, 415 South Street MS 035, Waltham, MA 02453, United States;8. Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Community Health Sciences, Crosstown Building – CT 454, 801 Massachusetts Ave, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02118, United States |
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| Abstract: | Removal of legal barriers to syringe access has been identified as an important part of a comprehensive approach to reducing HIV transmission among injecting drug users (IDUs). Legal barriers include both “law on the books” and “law on the streets,” i.e., the actual practices of law enforcement officers. Changes in syringe and drug control policy can be ineffective in reducing such barriers if police continue to treat syringe possession as a crime or evidence of criminal activity. Despite the integral role of police officers in health policy implementation, little is known of their knowledge of, attitudes toward, and enforcement response to harm-minimisation schemes. We conducted qualitative interviews with 14 police officers in an urban police department following decriminalisation of syringe purchase and possession. Significant findings include: respondents were generally misinformed about the law legalising syringe purchase and possession; accurate knowledge of the law did not significantly change self-reported law enforcement behaviour; while anxious about accidental needle sticks and acquiring communicable diseases from IDUs, police officers were not trained or equipped to deal with this occupational risk; respondents were frustrated by systemic failures and structural barriers that perpetuate the cycle of substance abuse and crime, but blamed users for poor life choices. These data suggest a need for more extensive study of police attitudes and behaviours towards drug use and drug users. They also suggest changes in police training and management aimed at addressing concerns and misconceptions of the personnel, and ensuring that the legal harm reduction programs are not compromised by negative police interactions with IDUs. |
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