Can Police Training Help Align Law Enforcement and HIV Prevention? Preliminary Evidence from the Field

American Journal of Public Health, Forthcoming

9 Pages Posted: 20 Aug 2011

See all articles by Leo Beletsky

Leo Beletsky

Northeastern University - School of Law; Northeastern University - Bouvé College of Health Sciences; Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health, UCSD School of Medicine

alpna agrawal

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Bruce Moreau

Pawtucket Police Department

Pratima Kumar

Brown University

Nomi Weiss-Laxer

Brown University

Robert Heimer

Yale University - School of Public Health

Date Written: May 1, 2010

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 needle-stick injures (NSI). Baseline data (94 officers) confirm anxiety about NSI, poor legal knowledge, and occupational risk over-estimation. Pre-training, respondents opined that syringe access promotes drug use (51%), increases likelihood of police NSI (58%) and fails to reduce epidemics (38%). Evaluation suggests significant shifts in legal and occupational safety knowledge; changes in attitudes towards syringe access were promising. Training bundling occupational safety with syringe access content can help align law enforcement with public health goals. Additional research is needed to assess street-level impact and to inform tailoring.

Suggested Citation

Beletsky, Leo and agrawal, alpna and Moreau, Bruce and Kumar, Pratima and Weiss-Laxer, Nomi and Heimer, Robert, Can Police Training Help Align Law Enforcement and HIV Prevention? Preliminary Evidence from the Field (May 1, 2010). American Journal of Public Health, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1912504

Leo Beletsky (Contact Author)

Northeastern University - School of Law; Northeastern University - Bouvé College of Health Sciences ( email )

416 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
United States
617-373-5540 (Phone)

Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health, UCSD School of Medicine ( email )

9500 Gilman Drive
MC 0507
La Jolla, CA 92093
United States

Alpna Agrawal

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Bruce Moreau

Pawtucket Police Department ( email )

121 Roosevelt Avenue
Pawtucket, RI 02860
United States

Pratima Kumar

Brown University ( email )

Box 1860
Providence, RI 02912
United States

Nomi Weiss-Laxer

Brown University ( email )

Box 1860
Providence, RI 02912
United States

Robert Heimer

Yale University - School of Public Health ( email )

PO Box 208034
60 College Street
New Haven, CT 06520-8034
United States

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