A national survey of law enforcement post-overdose response efforts

ABSTRACT

Background: Law enforcement agencies in the US have provided naloxone to officers and developed initiatives to follow-up after a non-fatal overdose. However, the prevalence and characteristics of these efforts have yet to be documented in research literature.

Objectives: We sought to understand the national prevalence of naloxone provision among law enforcement and examine the implementation of post-overdose follow-up.

Methods: We administered a survey on drug overdose response initiatives using a multimodal approach (online and mail) to a nationally representative sample of law enforcement agencies (N = 2,009; 50.1% response rate) drawn from the National Directory of Law Enforcement Administrators database. We further examine a subsample of agencies (N = 1,514) that equipped officers with naloxone who were also asked about post-overdose follow-up.

Results: We found 81.7% of agencies reported officers were equipped with naloxone; among these, approximately one-third (30.3%) reported follow-up after an overdose. More than half (56.8%) of agencies indicated partnership in follow-up with emergency medical services as the most common partner (68.8%). There were 21.4% of agencies with a Quick Response Team, a popular national post-overdose model, and were more likely to indicate partnership with a substance use disorder treatment provider than when agencies were asked generally about partners in follow-up (74.5% and 26.2% respectively).

Conclusion: Many law enforcement agencies across the US have equipped officers with naloxone, and about one-third of those are conducting follow-up to non-fatal overdose events. Post-overdose follow-up models and practices vary in ways that can influence treatment engagement and minimize harms against persons who use drugs.

KEYWORDS:

• Law enforcement
• drug response
• overdoses
• naloxone
• quick response teams

Authors contributions

BR conceptualized the study write-up, drafted the initial manuscript, coordinated revisions, and approved the final manuscript submitted. NJR assisted in the overall survey design, drafted portions of the initial manuscript and led the analysis. PRA assisted with survey design and data collection and revisions to the manuscript. HMS and AHK designed the survey, collected the data, reviewed, and revised the manuscript, and approved final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The overall study was supported by Arnold Ventures under Grant 19–02661. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of Arnold Ventures.