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)  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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Police Info Card

Client KYR Card

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

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

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

Next Steps  Build peer/peer training capacity  Dissemination/refinement

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

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’!

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