Police Perceptions of Police-Involved Overdose Outreach Program Effectiveness

• Author: Laurie T. Becker
• Published date: 01 October 2021
• Date: 01 October 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00220426211016324
• Subject Matter: Articles

2021, Vol. 51(4) 611 –627

https://doi.org/10.1177/00220426211016324

Journal of Drug Issues

© The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00220426211016324

journals.sagepub.com/home/jod

Article

Police Perceptions of Police-

Involved Overdose Outreach

Program Effectiveness

Laurie T. Becker1

Abstract

This study surveys police officers from three New England states to examine the perceptions

officers hold toward the effectiveness of police-involved overdose outreach programs, the

variables that serve as significant predictors for perceptions of program effectiveness, and the

extent to which attribution theory can explain these perceptions. The majority of officers

displayed positive perceptions of program effectiveness, and eight significant predictors were

identified, including attribution theory which showed significance in explaining why police officers

perceive these programs as effective. As an increasing number of police departments take a

service-centered approach to working with individuals with substance use disorder, police-

involved overdose outreach programs are becoming more commonplace. From the results of

this study, practitioners are able to identify variables that predict officers’ views of program

effectiveness. Equipped with this knowledge, increasing the support of these related concepts

will help to subsequently increase the likelihood of officers viewing these programs as effective.

Keywords

drug use, overdose outreach, police perceptions, attribution theory

Introduction

Since 2000, the number of deaths due to opioid overdose has quadrupled to nearly half a million

people (Lurigio et al., 2018). From 2014 to 2015, deaths due to drug overdose increased 11.4%,

accounting for more than 50,000 deaths with approximately 30,000 of these involving opioids.

The year 2016 continued to see increases in overdose deaths across all demographic lines and

geographic locations (Seth et al., 2018). In 2017 alone, there were 70,237 fatal overdoses in the

United States, making drug overdose the leading cause of injury death in the country. Of these

incidents, opioids were involved in 47,600, accounting for over two thirds of the year’s overdose

deaths. Broken down, on average, there were nearly 4,000 fatal opioid overdoses per month, over

900 per week, and 130 individuals lost their life each day to an opioid overdose (Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). Due, in part, to these staggering statistics, in October of

2017, the Department of Health and Human Services formally declared the current opioid crisis

a public health emergency (Johnson & Wagner, 2017).

1Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI, USA

Corresponding Author:

Laurie T. Becker, School of Justice Studies, Roger Williams University, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol, RI 02809, USA.

Email: lbecker017@g.rwu.edu

1016324JODXXX10.1177/00220426211016324Journal of Drug IssuesBecker

research-article2021

612 Journal of Drug Issues 51(4)

2 Journal of Drug Issues 00(0)

With law enforcement officers historically fighting on the front lines against illicit drugs, their

position in this current crisis has proven to be no different. Stemming from the War on Drugs and

continuing through the beginning of this most recent crisis, law enforcement agencies focused

enforcement on those distributing drugs to remove illicit drugs from the streets (Fulkerson et al.,

2016). However, as opioid-related deaths continued to increase, many law enforcement officials

began to realize that their traditional, crime control responses alone would not solve the problem.

In response, agencies adapted by adopting a more service-centered approach that involved allo-

cating resources toward working with individuals with substance use disorder to prevent future

use and, ultimately, future overdose (Botieri et al., 2018).

Specifically, in 2017, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut were among the top

twenty-five percent of states with the highest rate of fatal opioid overdoses (Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, 2020). In response, law enforcement agencies began to develop initia-

tives that involved police officers making outreach visits to the homes of those who had

recently experienced a nonfatal overdose as well as those considered at risk of overdosing.

Once developed, these outreach programs served mainly to get those with substance use disor-

der into treatment, thereby reducing future overdoses and saving lives (Botieri et al., 2018).

While police-involved overdose outreach programs are gaining popularity throughout these

New England states and surrounding areas, there is very little research regarding police offi-

cers’ perceptions of these programs. As police departments around the United States consider

rethinking how they police those with substance use disorder, it is important to understand

lessons learned from those currently engaged in these efforts. Therefore, this study is explor-

atory in nature and is aimed at filling this hole in the research by gaining data-driven insight

into the perceptions that police hold toward the effectiveness of these programs, while examin-

ing the extent to which attribution theory helps to explain these perceptions.

Literature Review

Service-centered policing for substance use disorder. Over the past three decades, a number of police

departments realized that they were not well equipped to work with certain populations under the

traditional, crime control approach (Schiff et al., 2016, 2017). This realization first came with

individuals with mental health conditions (Cotton, 2004; Watson et al., 2004), then, those expe-

riencing homelessness (Police Executive Research Forum, 2018; Robert et al., 2013), and now,

those with substance use disorder (Schiff et al., 2016, 2017). Shifting to a more service-centered

approach involves police departments becoming more akin to social service agencies (Police

Executive Research Forum, 2018). While the traditional law enforcement approach would lead

officers to make arrests, the service-centered approach has led officers to rethink the way they

work with special populations to ensure they are best serving these individuals (Watson et al.,

2004). Specifically, within the past ten years, an increasing number of police leaders have deter-

mined that when it comes to working with those with substance use disorder, simply arresting

these individuals is not always the answer. Instead, many agencies believe that those with sub-

stance use disorder are best served when offered information and referral to treatment or other

social services (Davoust et al., 2021).

Putting these changing beliefs into practice, many agencies adopted police-involved over-

dose outreach programs (Botieri et al., 2018; Formica et al., 2018). While, to date, there has

not been a study specifically examining perceptions of service-centered policing as it relates to

police-involved overdose outreach programs, there has been a number of studies covering

perceptions of other methods of service-centered policing for those with substance use disor-

der, such as the carrying of Naloxone, as well as overall perceptions of serving this special

population.