Citation

Greenberg S, Frattaroli S. Inj. Prev. 2018; 24(3): 178-179.

Affiliation

Center for Injury Research and Policy, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/injuryprev-2017-042675

PMID

29472242

Abstract

Police officers and public health professionals serve complementary professions, with each providing a logical extension of the other’s contribution to public health and safety. The opioid epidemic, sexual assault, human trafficking, gun violence, suicide, traffic-related injuries, intimate partner violence and mass casualty events are among the issues that police and public health professionals are called upon to prevent, respond to and resolve. There is a growing body of literature and new professional opportunities exploring the intersection of law enforcement and public health, and the relevance of this intersection to injury and violence prevention in particular presents an opportunity to advance shared goals. Here, we consider this opportunity in the context of the USA, in particular.

Through collaboration, police and public health professionals can move the ‘levers’ needed to change behaviour (eg, seat belt use), improve access to critical services (eg, emergency response) and expand the footprint of the evidence base through partnered research (eg, effective implementation of gun violence prevention laws). Doing so requires a new and expanded understanding of each discipline by the other and can be informed by lessons from such collaborations outside of the USA. Efforts by the Centre for Law Enforcement and Public Health in Melbourne, the Global Law Enforcement and …

Language: en