Police Chiefs’ Support for Public Health Responses to Drug Use: A Randomized, Controlled Survey Experiment

• In Event: Assessing Decriminalization, Harm Reduction, and Public Health Approaches to Policing the Opioid Crisis

Abstract

Background
US chiefs of police hold significant influence over the perceived acceptability of interventions for opioid use disorder. This study assessed if their support for such interventions was sensitive to framing in terms of public health outcomes versus public safety outcomes.

Methods
A two-armed survey utilizing a randomized, between-subjects design tested framing-based variance in support among chiefs of police for overdose prevention centers, syringe service programs (SSPs), Good Samaritan laws, naloxone distribution, and trustworthiness of officers in recovery.

Results
Chiefs expressed significantly greater support for “overdose prevention sites” than “safe injection sites” (p=.018), low support for SSPs regardless of framing (18% safety; 19% health), and comparably more support for Good Samaritan laws (62% safety; 53% health). Respondents voiced low levels of trust in officers recovering from OUD (31%), and significantly lower levels when treatment consisted of the medication buprenorphine (10%; p<.001). Senior chiefs were more likely to support SSPs and overdose prevention sites than less senior chiefs.

Conclusions
Support for interventions for OUD was generally greater among chiefs when framed using public safety outcomes. Research is required to better understand low support for SSPs, mistrust of officers in recovery for OUD, and greater support for interventions among senior chiefs.

Authors

• Kailtin Fatima Martins, Rhode Island Hospital

• Saba Rouhani, New York University School of Global Public Health

• Amelia Bailey, Brown University

• M.H. Clark, University of Central Florida

• Fatema Z. Ahmed, University of Central Florida

• Danielle Atkins, Florida State University

• Barbara Andraka-Christou, University of Central Florida

• Brandon del Pozo, Brown University