title: Relationships between needle and syringe programs and police: An exploratory analysis of the potential role of in-service training.
abstract: Training police on the public health benefits of needle and syringe programs (NSPs) is viewed as a best practice to facilitate more collaborative relationships between police and these programs. To date, while the limited published literature contains promising cases of harm reduction in-service training for police, evaluative evidence is preliminary.
  
  
  
  Using an online survey, we asked NSP managers across Canada about their programs and the quality of their NSP-police relationships.
  
  
  
  We analyzed data from the responses of 75 program managers among whom 69% reported that their program had a "positive" or "mostly positive" relationship with the police. In-service training about topics such as needle-stick injury prevention and NSP effectiveness was provided by less than 50% of the programs surveyed. Seventy-five percent reported no established protocols to resolve conflicts between NSP staff and police. Four variables, all related to in-service training, were significantly related to positive NSP-police relationships, including training about: NSP program goals (OR 7.7; 95% CI 2.0, 33.1); needle-stick injury prevention and basics of blood-borne virus transmission (OR 4.0; 95% CI 1.1, 15.34); the health and social concerns of people who use drugs (OR 3.9; 95% CI 1.1, 13.5); and evidence about the impact of injection equipment distribution (OR 3.9; 95% CI 1.1, 13.5).
  
  
  
  Development of in-service training for police that is focused on harm reduction goals and initiatives is a new and evolving area. We highly encourage NSPs to offer and evaluate any such in-service training programs.
authors.affiliation: Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 3M7, Canada; Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S1, Canada. Electronic address: carol.strike@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Strike
authors.affiliation: Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S1, Canada. Electronic address: taramarie.watson@camh.ca.
authors.forename: Tara Marie
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Watson
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002170:Canada; D006801:Humans; D018671:Needle-Exchange Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016495:Police / Q000193:education*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: In-service training; Inter-agency relationships; Needle and syringe programs; Police