Note
Author(s) affiliated with: Research Center for the Science of Communication (Rome, Italy) and College of Arts and Humanities, Swansea University (United Kingdom).
Summary
"Many police services have long played an important role in the protection and promotion of various aspects of public health. This is quite proper since the primary role of police officers is to protect life and property. Furthermore, police officers on their appointment swear or affirm to uphold the laws of their countries including those which directly or indirectly speak to the protection of public health and the promotion of related programs and interventions. Within this context, in recent years the role of police services in preventing the spread of blood-borne infections amongst PWIDs [people who inject drugs] has been the subject of considerable research. Much of this, however, has focused on negative examples – documenting draconian policing practices, including the arbitrary use of stop and search/frisk laws and powers of arrest, police violence towards PWIDs and sex workers and the fabrication of evidence, that inhibit or undermine public health objectives. Given that policing tactics of this kind violate domestic and international rights-based legislation by which police services are bound, subvert public health policies and practices and in some cases are associated with higher HIV prevalence rates, attention on these issues is both understandable and desirable.6 Yet, such an approach has tended to overshadow the beneficial contributions made by police services at points where law enforcement, PWIDs and public health interests intersect."--Page 2.