BACKGROUND There is evidence of an association between alcohol use and offending behaviour and around a quarter of police time is spent on alcohol-related incidents. Police custody, therefore, provides an important opportunity to intervene. This pilot trial aims to investigate whether a definitive evaluation of screening and brief interventions aimed at reducing risky drinking in arrestees is a...

Research has shown that stressful or traumatic experiences associated with law enforcement in the South African Police and Correctional services can lead to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In 2001 Peltzer examined the extent to which current and continuous exposure to traumatic experiences contributed to traumatic stress responses among 66 South African police officers. A modified versio...

BACKGROUND Substantial policy, communication and operational gaps exist between mental health services and the police for individuals with enduring mental health needs. AIMS To map and cost pathways through mental health and police services, and to model the cost impact of implementing key policy recommendations. METHOD Within a case-linkage study, we estimated 1-year individual-level healt...

This paper estimates the causal effect of police on traffi c fatalities and injuries. Due to simultaneity, estimating the causal effect of police enforcement on crime is often diffi cult. We overcome this obstacle by focusing on a mass layoff of the Oregon State Police in February of 2003, stemming from Measure 28. Due solely to budget cuts, 35 percent of the roadway troopers were laid off, whi...

Mobile police officers perform many of their daily duties in their vehicles. Combined workspace inflexibility and prolonged driving create potential musculoskeletal injury risks. Limited research exists that quantitatively describes postural and load exposures associated with mobile police work. The purpose of this study was to characterize officer activity during a typical workday and identify...

This paper replicates a well-known article by Steven Levitt (AER, 1997). Levitt argues that an electoral cycle in police hiring generates exogenous variation in city police force size which may be used to estimate the causal effect of police on crime. I point out that a weighting error in Levitt’s computer program led to incorrect inferences for the key results of his paper. Replication estimat...

A traditional view is that police officers possess negative attitudes toward seeking professional help. However, few empirical studies have investigated help-seeking behaviour in police services. This study aimed to investigate help-seeking behaviour, gender differences, and the relationship to self-reported physical and mental health problems in the Norwegian police service. Comparisons were m...

BACKGROUND A safe effective and affordable HIV vaccine is the most cost effective way to prevent HIV infection worldwide. Current studies of HIV prevalence and incidence are needed to determine potentially suitable cohorts for vaccine studies. The prevalence and incidence of HIV-1 infection among the police in Dar es Salaam in 1996 were 13.8% and 19.6/1000 PYAR respectively. This study aimed at...

BACKGROUND Alcohol dependence is one of the leading causes of the global burden of disease. Among members of the Uganda Police Force, alcohol dependence has been a major contributor of poor mental health, poor work output and forced retirement. OBJECTIVE This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of alcohol dependence and associated psychosocial problems in the Uganda Police Force...