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，吸毒过量的流行和持续的种族化警察暴力加速了 努力减轻警察对吸毒者（PWUD）的种族差异伤害， 执法部门作为第一反应者的作用，对毒品使用采取基于证据的公共卫生方法， 减少伤害。警察部门现在通常为警官配备纳洛酮， 与医疗保健服务提供商合作，并在针对PWUD的著名转移计划中发挥主导作用， 其他边缘化人群。尽管对这些方法的初步评估表明，单独使用这些方法是有希望的， 整个警务机构尚未进行广泛和持久的改革。惩罚性执法 毒品犯罪仍然是警务机构的核心。刑事司法和公共行政的真正协调 卫生系统需要对既定的文化和体制规范进行广泛改革。建议的R36 应用程序建立在试点项目评估和研究的基础上，研究警察孤立措施的变化 执法检查如何在巴尔的摩市，马里兰州，警察谈判，比赛，并有意义 药物政策改革和公共卫生当局的指导，以了解更广泛的 对药物使用采取循证方法的文化转变正在转化为警务实践 最终会被PWUD体验到。通过对巴尔的摩警察局的深入采访 (BPD)领导力（n=20），BPD面向公众事件的观察（n=15），以及与 本研究以60名基层警察为研究对象，探讨以下问题：1）警察领导如何整合伤害 将减少毒品执法的方法纳入该部门对PWUD的组织方法，以及2） 街道一级官员的信念，态度和执法实践对PWUD。访谈分析 成绩单和观察现场笔记将使用溯因法进行，借鉴理论和 组织和组织变革、警察文化、风险环境和 健康的结构决定因素。R36申请的PI布拉德利西尔伯扎恩是一名博士 他是德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校社会学系的候选人。布拉德将带领所有 研究程序，以及更广泛的专家小组组成的教师从UT奥斯汀，约翰霍普金斯 彭博公共卫生学院和纽约大学全球公共卫生学院。本研究 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， 查明广泛和持久的警察改革的障碍和途径，以便利警察执法 与公共卫生相一致而不是相对立的做法。

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.