A recent study of 4.3 million emergency calls to police departments found 80 percent of callers believed that police are the best—and at times, the only—public responders able to respond.¹

Today, police are often required to respond to many matters beyond traditional law enforcement, such as overdoses, homelessness, mental health crises, pandemic-related challenges, and other social factors. However, issues considered part of traditional policing, like violent crime, can affect the physical and mental health of residents, making crime reduction an interest of public health.² While it may fall to police to respond to incidents resulting from social issues that affect public safety, police alone are not equipped to address underlying social issues.

Cross-disciplinary and collaborative partnerships, evidence-based policies and practices, and meaningful community engagement are all critical components to modern policing. Communities are best served when police are partnering with local stakeholders for a more holistic approach to these challenges, an approach rooted in the public health field.

Public health approaches focus on

• • the population-level, not the individual level;
  • the drivers of issues or the “causes of the causes”;
  • prevention at multiple stages—not just preventing problems but also intervening and reducing harm once issues arise;
  • data and evidence on what works; and
  • partnerships, communities, and systems to effect change.³

Public Health–Informed Policing (PHIP)

Early in 2021, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) brought together professional staff to form an internal working group that would delve into the nexus between policing and public health and help identify ways to elevate the innovative policing and public health collaborative responses to complex community issues taking place within policing around the globe. One outcome of this working group is a PHIP strategy to promote the application of public health thinking, approaches, and tools in policing as part of a broader effort to advance cross-disciplinary, collaborative approaches to community safety.

The public health approach brings more voices, cooperation, support, and resources together in a focused and driven effort to tackle complicated issues in communities.

The intention of PHIP is to help break down silos between disciplines, creating collaborative working relationships that foster more effective strategies, tools, and resources to address complicated issues at the nexus of public safety and public health that communities face. The practice of PHIP is collaborative, cross-disciplinary, research driven, solutions oriented, culturally appropriate, and rooted in the community. The public health approach brings more voices, cooperation, support, and resources together in a focused and driven effort to tackle complicated issues in communities.

PHIP has many benefits for police, such as improving agency efficiency by employing evidence-based practices and force-multiplying partnerships; incorporating new and supportive voices to enhance community policing efforts; creating effective, data-driven policy decisions; and establishing a system-wide approach that combines tools, resources, cooperation, and support from partners that leads to more successful and sustainable solutions.

While PHIP may be a new, emerging term, the practical application of public health thinking, approaches, and tools has led to innovations in policing for decades:

• • Public health research on road safety has been helping police control traffic and reduce roadway fatalities since the 1950s.
  • The dissemination of naloxone to patrol officers allows for rapid, life-saving intervention in overdose cases.
  • The emerging use of extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs) is helping to prevent gun violence.

These examples illustrate ways that PHIP approaches have already been game-changers for police. Each strategy brings key partners to the table to lend expertise and add support and valuable resources, resulting in evidence-based tools and primary prevention or early intervention strategies that helped police address a complex issue.

PHIP Resources for the Field

The IACP is at the leading edge of policing and public health and is uniquely positioned to amplify the existing efforts of police agencies around the globe that have incorporated public health thinking, approaches, and tools into their efforts to enhance community safety. In addition, the IACP currently has an array of grant-funded initiatives that incorporate public health approaches to such issues as gender-based violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, violent crime, traffic and road safety, gun violence, mental health conditions and intellectual disabilities, substance use, officer safety and wellness, vulnerable populations, and children exposed to violence. These initiatives have generated an abundance of training, tools, and resources for police and their multidisciplinary partners:

• • One pagers/fact sheets/checklists
    • Checklist of Community Trust Policy Considerations for Law Enforcement Leaders 
    • Traffic Enforcement During the COVID-19 Pandemic resource   
    • Eating Well On-The-Go   
    • Response to Stalking Checklist   
    • Response to Domestic Violence Checklist  
    • Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force Protocol Development Checklists 
  • Toolkits/guides
    • Successful Trauma Informed Victim Interviewing 
    • Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Children Exposed to Violence Toolkit    
    • National Consortium on Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide Toolkit 
    • Trauma Informed Victim Interviewing   
    • Safe, Quick Clearance of Traffic Incidents Toolkit 
    • Child Sex Trafficking: A Training Series for Frontline Officers Toolkit 
  • Policies
    • Bias-Free Policing 
    • Domestic Violence 
    • Response to Victims of Crime 
    • Naloxone   
    • Responding to Persons Experiencing a Mental Health Crisis   
    • Interactions with Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 
  • In-person training
    • Law Enforcement Agency and Officer Resilience Training Program  
    • Trauma Informed Sexual Assault Investigation Training Curriculum 
    • Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Children Exposed to Violence    
    • Academic Training to Inform Police Responses: A National Curriculum to Enhance Police Engagement with People with Behavioral Health Issues and Developmental Disabilities   
  • Online training courses
    • Protecting and Serving: Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Children Exposed to Violence 
    • Evaluating Violence Reduction Strategies 
    • Child Sex Trafficking: A Training Series for Frontline Officers 
    • Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims (ELERV) Video Series  
  • Recorded webinars and conference workshops on IACPlearn
    • Using ODMAP to Guide Response to the Opioid Epidemic  
    • How to Build Partnerships between Law Enforcement and Public Health Agencies to Address Opioid Use 
    • A Law Enforcement Executive’s Approach to Vicarious Trauma in 2021 
    • Effectively Engaging Community in Violence Reduction: How Law Enforcement Can Incorporate a Community-Based Crime Reduction Approach  
  • The IACP Resolutions
    • IACP 2017 Resolution: Support of the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS)  
    • IACP 2017 Resolution: Reducing Crime by Investing in Youth Prevention and Intervention Programs 
    • IACP 2016 Resolution: Increasing Safety for Law Enforcement Personnel and First Responders in Response to the Dangers of Fentanyl   
    • IACP 2015 Resolution: Addressing the Sexual Assault Kit Backlog   
    • IACP 2014 Resolution: Increasing the Awareness of the Lethality of Intimate Partner Strangulation   
  • Police Chief articles
    • Rachel A. Minkoff and Carlos E. Gerena, “Interacting with Individuals Who Have Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities,” Police Chief 88, no. 10 (October 2021): 38–43. https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/interacting-with-individuals-who-have-intellectual-and-developmental-disabilities/  
    • Joseph Daniel Remy et al., “Changing Minds to End the Opioid Epidemic: Using Meaningful Conversations and Partnerships to Facilitate Rehabilitation and Recovery,” Police Chief 88, no. 10 (October 2021): 50–56. https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/changing-minds-to-end-the-opioid-epidemic/  
    • Dan Eamon, “Changing the Goal to Relationship Building: How to Bring Positive Change to Public Safety,” Police Chief Online, April 21, 2021. https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/changing-the-goal-to-relationship-building  
    • Ronal W. Serpas, “A Smarter Public Safety Model: Addressing Crises Related to Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Chronic Homelessness,” Police Chief  88, no. 1 (January 2021): 30–35. https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/smarter-public-safety-model  
    • Barbara J. Morvay, “Responding to Incidents Involving Vulnerable Persons with Diverse Special Needs,” Police Chief  86, no. 7 (July 2019): 34–42.  https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/responding-to-persons-special-needs 
    • Tim Gately, “Homelessness in Suburban Communities: Redmond’s Multifaceted Approach to Addressing Recidivism Among Homeless Populations,” Police Chief  86, no. 7 (July 2019): 50–55. https://www.policechiefmagazine.org/homelessness-suburban-communities    

In the IACP’s vision for the future of PHIP, public safety is provided not just by police agencies but also through the collective efforts of justice system leaders, public health professionals, local governmental agencies, elected officials, service providers, researchers, the media, and community members. Through the shared public safety goals and vision of these public safety stakeholders, evidence-based practices can be developed, implemented, and enhanced to address the drivers of crime and violence, as well as complex social problems like homelessness, mental illness, and substance use disorders.d

Notes:

¹Cynthia Lum, Christopher S. Koper, and Xiaoyun Wu, “Can We Really Defund the Police? A Nine-Agency Study of Police Response to Calls for Service,” Police Quarterly (2021): 10986111211035002.

²Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Violence Prevention, “5-Year Strategic Vision,” January 28, 2021.

³Helen Christmas and Justin Srivastava, Public Health Approaches in Policing (UK: College of Policing, 2019).