The current opioid epidemic affects people from all walks of life, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or any other demographic, tearing families apart, devastating communities, and overwhelming first responders. Law enforcement officers are on the front lines in addressing this crisis. They encounter and respond to the consequences of addiction every day. They often are the first to arrive on the scene of an overdose. They see the toll the crisis is taking on communities, and they have a critical role to play in influencing how communities address it.
In May 2015, in response to the increasing number of overdoses in his small city, Chief Leonard Campanello of the Gloucester, Massachusetts, Police Department made a startling announcement to the citizens of his community:
Any addict who walks into the police station with the remainder of their drug equipment (needles, etc.) or drugs and asks for help will NOT be charged. Instead, we will walk them through the system toward detox and recovery. We will assign them an “angel” who will be their guide through the process. Not in hours or days, but on the spot.1
Chief Campanello’s vision of offering treatment to individuals with opioid use disorders (OUDs) was the beginning of a movement that has changed the way law enforcement is responding to this crisis, likened to an epidemic in many parts of the United States. In 2017, there were 70,237 drug overdose deaths in the United States, of which 47,600, or almost 68 percent, involved opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).2 The surge in overdose deaths is blamed on fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that played a role in more than 30,000 of the opioid overdoses.
The complexity of the opioid epidemic calls for a comprehensive approach, one that addresses both the supply and demand of illicit substances. Chief Louis Dekmar, immediate past president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), in his March 2018 Police Chief President’s Message, “Combating Complex Drug Issues Requires a Collaborative, Multifaceted Approach,” stated,
There is no easy fix for these issues, and law enforcement alone is not the solution. The tactic must be a three-pronged approach—prevention (education), enforcement, and treatment. Without all three of these equally important measures, we won’t make positive strides.3
To support the efforts of law enforcement leaders striving to halt the opioid crisis, and heeding Chief Dekmar’s message, IACP has created the Law Enforcement Opioid Resource Initiative. This initiative consists of a webpage with resources on the topics of overdose response, enforcement, and prevention, as well as an online community that serves as a means for law enforcement, other first responders, and their partners to engage in peer-to-peer dialogue about the help they need or what is working in their communities.
The Law Enforcement Opioid Resource Initiative webpage is divided into four sections.
- Overdose Response includes resources to support education and policies on the use and dissemination of naloxone to reverse overdoses and information on fentanyl safety for law enforcement and other first responders.
- Enforcement resources include information on training and examples of memoranda of understanding among agencies and jurisdictions, data-sharing agreements, and policies for the administration of multijurisdictional drug task forces.
- Prevention includes information on public health approaches to prevention, information on law enforcement–led pre-arrest diversion programs that connect individuals with OUDs to treatment, and resources on building capacity in community-based treatment and services to make diversion programs possible.
- Resources by State includes state profiles with information on state-, jurisdiction-, or agency-specific research, policies, statutes, and documentation that can add to the knowledge and success of opioid response practices. Documentation can include agency policies on pre-arrest diversion, information about peer recovery professionals, interagency agreements, guidebooks on setting up programs, toolkits, and more.
One goal of the Law Enforcement Opioid Resource Initiative is to provide an online community where practitioners in the fields of law enforcement, emergency medical response, public health, behavioral health, medicine, and drug treatment can engage in conversations about opioid-related issues and ask questions of peers who have started to see success from their efforts. Conversations begin with a request for input from a member on challenges he or she is facing in implementing a program, sharing news about recent successes or data from program evaluation, or a request for information on existing policies or practices. Participants are encouraged to ask complex questions, share ideas, and promote evidence-based practices regarding opioid response. They also are encouraged to upload resources that will further populate the webpage and benefit their colleagues in the online community as well as other professionals working on this challenging topic. Sharing advice, information, and resources is a force multiplier, allowing IACP to keep the information on the resources page current, relevant, and beneficial to the entire field. In addition, input received by the IACP from the online community will continue to shape the Law Enforcement Opioid Resource Initiative webpage, enhancing the IACP’s ability to provide law enforcement officials with the tools they need to address this crisis and prepare the field for potential future drug-related emergencies.
Access the Law Enforcement Opioid Resource Initiative, including instructions for joining the Law Enforcement Opioid Resource Online Community. 🛡
Notes:
1 The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, “The Gloucester ANGEL Initiative: Angel Program Documents and Waivers,” 2015.
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Drug Overdose Deaths,” December 19, 2018.
3 Louis M. Dekmar, “Combating Complex Drug Issues Requires a Collaborative, Multifaceted Approach,” President’s Message, Police Chief (March 2018): 6, 10.
Please cite as
Stephanie Areizaga and Karen Maline, “New Online Resource for Opioid Response,” IACP@Work, Police Chief 86, no. 5 (May 2019): 70–71.
