Harm Reduction Policing? A Qualitative Study of Police Culture and Enforcement Practices Toward People Who Use Drugs Amidst Efforts to Align Public Health and Public Safety Systems

项目概要 最近吸毒过量流行病和持续的种族化警察暴力加速融合 努力减轻警察对吸毒者（PWUD）造成的种族差异性伤害，方法是协调一致 执法部门作为第一反应者的作用，采用基于证据的公共卫生方法来应对毒品使用，其根源在于 减少伤害。警察部门现在普遍为警官配备纳洛酮，并参与合作伙伴关系 与医疗保健服务提供商合作，并在针对 PWUD 和 其他边缘化人群。尽管对这些方法的初步评估显示出单独的前景， 整个警务机构广泛而持久的改革尚未实现。惩罚性执法 毒品犯罪仍然是治安机构的核心。刑事司法与公共司法的真正协调 卫生系统需要对既定的文化和体制规范进行广泛的改变。拟议的R36 应用程序建立在试点计划评估和研究的基础上，检查警察孤立措施的变化 通过检查马里兰州巴尔的摩市的警察如何谈判、竞争和讲道理来执行执法 药物政策改革和公共卫生当局的指导，以了解更广泛的 向基于证据的药物使用方法的文化转变正在转化为警务实践 PWUD 最终会经历这些。通过对巴尔的摩警察局的深入采访 (BPD) 领导 (n=20)、对 BPD 面向公众的事件的观察 (n=15) 以及与 街头警官 (n=60)，本研究旨在定性探索，1) 警察领导层如何整合伤害 将禁毒执法方法减少到该部门的 PWUD 组织方法中，以及 2) 街道警察对 PWUD 的信念、态度和执法实践。访谈分析 笔录和观察现场笔记将采用归纳法进行，借鉴理论和 来自对组织和组织变革、警察文化、风险环境和 健康的结构性决定因素。拟议 R36 应用的 PI Bradley Silberzahn 是一位博士 德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（UT Austin）社会学系候选人。布拉德将领导一切 研究程序，以及由 UT 奥斯汀分校、约翰霍普金斯大学的教师组成的更广泛的专家小组 布隆伯格公共卫生学院和纽约大学全球公共卫生学院。这项研究 将为正在进行的有关毒品政策和执法在减少伤害方面的作用的辩论提供信息，以及 确定广泛和持久的警察改革的障碍和途径，以促进警察执法 与公共卫生相一致而不是对立的做法。

Project Summary The recent convergence of the overdose epidemic and continued racialized police violence has accelerated efforts to mitigate the racially disparate harms of policing toward people who use drugs (PWUD) by aligning law enforcement’s role as first responders with evidence-based public health approaches to drug use rooted in harm reduction. Police departments now commonly equip officers with naloxone, participate in partnerships with healthcare service providers, and have a lead role in celebrated diversion programs targeting PWUD and other marginalized populations. Despite initial evaluations of these approaches showing promise in isolation, widespread and enduring reform across the institution of policing has not materialized. Punitive enforcement of drug offenses remains central to the institution of policing. True harmonization of criminal justice and public health systems requires broad changes to well-established cultural and institutional norms. The proposed R36 application builds on pilot program evaluations and studies examining changes in isolated measures of police enforcement by examining how police officers in Baltimore City, Maryland, negotiate, contest, and make sense of drug policy reforms and guidance from public health authorities in order to understand how the broader cultural shift toward evidence-based approaches to substance use is being translated into policing practices that are ultimately experienced by PWUD. Through in-depth interviews with Baltimore Police Department (BPD) leadership (n=20), observations of BPD public-facing events (n=15), and observational ride-alongs with street-level officers (n=60), this research aims to qualitatively explore, 1) how police leadership integrate harm reduction approaches to drug enforcement into the department’s organizational approach to PWUD, and 2) street-level officers’ beliefs, attitudes, and enforcement practices towards PWUD. Analysis of interview transcripts and observation fieldnotes will be conducted using an abductive approach, drawing on theories and concepts from studies of organizations and organizational change, police culture, risk environments and structural determinants of health. The PI of the proposed R36 application, Bradley Silberzahn, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). Brad will lead all study procedures, as well as a broader expert panel comprised of faculty from UT Austin, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and New York University’s School of Global Public Health. This research will inform ongoing debates over drug policy and the role of law enforcement in harm reduction, as well as identify barriers and avenues for widespread and enduring police reform that facilitates police enforcement practices that are in alignment with, not antithetical to, public health.