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

项目摘要 最近吸毒过量的流行病和持续的种族主义警察暴力的汇合加速了 努力减轻警务工作对吸毒者的不同种族的危害(PWUD) 执法部门作为以循证公共卫生方法为基础的毒品使用的第一反应者的角色植根于 减少危害。警察部门现在普遍给警官配备纳洛酮，参与合作 与医疗保健服务提供商合作，并在针对PWUD和 其他边缘人群。尽管对这些方法的初步评估显示出孤立的前景， 整个警务机构的广泛和持久的改革尚未实现。惩罚性地执行 毒品犯罪仍然是警察制度的核心。刑事司法与公众的真正和谐 卫生系统需要对既定的文化和体制规范进行广泛的改革。建议的R36 应用程序建立在试点计划评估和研究的基础上，这些研究检查了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、抗辩和有意义地执行 药品政策改革和公共卫生当局的指导，以了解更广泛的 向以证据为基础的物质使用方法的文化转变正在转化为警务实践 最终由PWUD经历。通过对巴尔的摩警察局的深入采访 (BPD)领导力(n=20)，观察BPD面向公众的事件(n=15)，以及观察顺风车与 街道级别的警官(n=60)，本研究旨在定性地探索：1)警察领导如何整合危害 将减少毒品执法的方法纳入该部对残疾儿童的组织办法，以及2) 街头警员对残障人士的信念、态度和执法做法。访谈分析 成绩单和实地观察笔记将采用诱导性方法，借鉴理论和 来自组织和组织变革、警察文化、风险环境和 健康的结构性决定因素。建议的R36应用程序的PI Bradley Silberzahn是一名博士 德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校(UT奥斯汀)社会学系候选人。布拉德将领导所有 研究程序，以及由德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校、约翰·霍普金斯大学的教员组成的更广泛的专家小组 彭博公共卫生学院和纽约大学全球公共卫生学院。这项研究 将为正在进行的关于毒品政策和执法在减少危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 与公共健康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.