The Role of Law Enforcement in
Public Health Emergencies
Edward P. Richards, Katharine C.
Rathbun, Corina Solé Brito, and Andrea
Luna
 Available at:

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA
www.dr-kate.com
Email
me - richards@lsu.edu
The Report
Driven by bird flu fears
 Started as a study of quarantine and
isolation
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Darlings of the DHS and CDC and others who
have never done public health
Became an all hazards approach
Why not Quarantine and Isolation?
Logistics of a wide spread quarantine
 Limited response options
 SARS Experience

Why All Hazards?

Difficult to maintain readiness for a low
probability event

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Plan must provide short term benefits to be
supported in the long term
Impossible to change behavior patterns on
short notice
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Plan must incorporate new behaviors and
attitudes into everyday situations
Overview of All Hazards
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Institute vaccination programs for all
recommended adult immunizations
Address policies that encourage employees to
work sick
Develop and implement workplace surveillance
for infectious disease risks
Include families in these plans because officers
cannot work effectively if their families are at risk
Management Oversight
Advantages
Provides measurable outcomes, which
disaster only planning does not
 Provides an economic and workplace
benefits which will make the program
easier to continue
 Requires policies to be worked out with
unions and other stakeholders

Assures buy in
 Identifies problems

The Next Step:
Resilient Communities
Bring All Hazards Planning for Public
Health Emergencies to the
Community
Defining Characteristics of
Public Health Emergencies

Long term
Days to longer
 Depletes manpower and resources
 The affected population requires support
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Widespread
Affects a region or significant urban area
 Affects everyone, including the police
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Significant Risk
Examples
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Epidemic
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Bird flu
Hazmat incident with long term risks
Anthrax
 Dirty bomb

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Natural disaster
Hurricanes, Winter storms
 Earthquakes

Traditional Emergency Response
Scenarios

Geographically limited
Crime scenes
 Parade routes
 Look at the problems with riot control when
whole neighborhoods become involved

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Temporarily limited

No one is staffed to do a 100% mobilization
for weeks
Limited Response Options in
Public Health Emergencies
You cannot shoot people who are just
trying to take care of their families
 You cannot arrest large numbers of
persons to restore order
 You cannot occupy significant territory

Your People are also Victims
Widespread public health and
environmental crises affect law
enforcement personnel
 Most personnel will look to their families
first
 Law enforcement families cannot be
protected outside of the context of
their communities

Day to Day Life Goes On

No federal plan acknowledges that there
are criminals and the homeless


Biggest joke - Pandemic flu plan says they will
close the borders
Too many plans can only be staffed by
assuming that no other law enforcement or
first response activities will take place

Only works for short periods
Why 9/11 is the Wrong Model
Deaths, but not injuries - limited impact on
health care
 Relatively small percentage of the
population displaced for a long period of
time
 Relatively little infrastructure destroyed

Why Katrina is a Better Model
Widespread
 Long-term
 Foreseeable
 The risks could have been mitigated
 The response needs outstripped all
available resources

What Do Communities Need in
Public Health Emergencies
Food, water
 Environmental management such as heat
 Transportation and shelter if an evacuation
 Health care
 Family support - where are the kids?

Complicating Factors

Physical and Personnel Infrastructure
Mismatch
Failure to do maintenance
 Allowing development to outstrip
infrastructure
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Efficiency v. Reliability
Will your $100 microwave work in 5 years?
 Will your low cost electric power company
give you power 24/7/365 at 99.99%?
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Who Will Provide for the Public?

Federal model
Local first responders
 Supported by the military and federal support
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State Models
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Public health, supported by law enforcement
Reality

In most areas the police are the organizations
with the most staff and resources
Who Will Fund This?

The existing money is coming from other
essential services that cannot be
postponed forever
Priorities will shift as fears of disaster abate
 Many health departments are losing net
money
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Bottom-line: No one is funding real public
support
Objectives of Resilient
Communities
Reduce the need for support from public
services
 Reduce suffering and death
 Reduce the risk of public disorder
 Most important:
 Build trust and credibility so the
community will cooperate with
needed mitigation measures

Building Blocks for Resilient
Communities
Honest risk communication
 Realistic preventive strategies
 Start with your own people
 Working with other organizations
 Reinforcing the message when disasters
are no longer fashionable
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Honest Risk Communications

Be realistic about the risk
Bird flu v. yearly flu
 Hurricane v. terrorist attack

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Just say No to Potemkin planning
Big issue in public health
 Hurricane Pam
 Being a team player puts the public at risk
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Do not suppress market risk signals
Realistic Preventive Strategies
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Must fit in with real household management
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Being Prepared
Examples
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Gasoline
What to take in evacuations
How to keep food and water on hand
How to treat water and what is safe to eat when the
refrigerator goes off
When to go back and what to do when you get there
Start with Your Own People

Get the families of your own people
involved
Builds support - they become part of the
solution
 Direct benefits to the department

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Encourage them to involve their neighbors
Stabilizes the neighborhood, making their own
situation more secure
 Do not be the only person on your block with
water
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Working with Other Organizations
Find out if your local public health plans
are really staffed and supported
 Find out the plans of the local hospitals
and other health care providers
 Coordinate with retailers
 Work with churches and other private
organizations


Walmart and Home Depot can move goods
more effectively than Northcom
Reinforcing the Message when
Disasters are out of Fashion

Priorities are going to shift
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No politician will keep supporting prevent
measures once the public gets interested
in other things

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FEMA has already punted on realistic building
standards in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast
We have a lot of social problems we have
been ignoring
The problems will still be there
Political Benefits

Most communities do not trust public
health (some do not trust the police)
Anti-vaccination forces
 Equating trans-fat with the plague
 Incompetent political appointees in critical
positions
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Law enforcement will bear the risk of failed
public health response