Three Things To Read This Weekend
1. NEW POLL: Voters Strongly Support Increased Availability Of Narcan
There’s a growing bipartisan push to make Narcan—a life-saving drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose—as widely available to not only first responders, but to as many ordinary citizens as possible. To help combat the overdose crisis, leaders across the country are providing access to the easy-to-administer medication in schools and churches, bars and restaurants, in public transit stations and airlines, local vending machines and over the counter at pharmacies. Narcan has no effect when consumed by a person who is not having an overdose, meaning there is no risk in taking it. Hence, the push for widespread access.
Yet, against this backdrop of momentum, there are skeptics who argue for a more traditional law enforcement approach to opioid addiction. Here is one version of that argument against expanded availability: “Handing out like candy a drug that reverses overdoses from dangerous and illegal drugs will just make people feel more comfortable using dangerous and illegal drugs. To combat the opioid crisis, we need more police officers on the street and more arrests of illicit drug users and their dealers.”
To gauge Americans’ views on the debate over increased access to Narcan, Safer Cities conducted a poll of 1,704 registered voters nationally.
After exposing respondents to strong viewpoints for and against expanding access to Narcan, we found that two-thirds of voters—including most Democrats and most Republicans—agreed more with an approach that expands Narcan access.
Related: For The New York Times, Elizabeth Spiers details the results of a survey of primary care medical residents and physician assistant trainees study which suggests that “training alone—just handling Narcan, learning how it works—was able to shift attitudes, which result[ed] in better outcomes for patients.” As Spiers explains, about one-third of the primary care providers surveyed initially disagreed with the statement: ‘I would feel comfortable having opioid-dependent patients come to my practice,’ meaning they would not feel comfortable. [However,] after Narcan training, that number fell to zero…”
2. “Most Traffic Enforcement In Los Angeles Should Be Done By Civilian Workers.”
That’s the conclusion of a new report from the city’s Department of Transportation, according to a pre-publication draft reviewed by Libor Jany for The Los Angeles Times.
The report, which strongly recommends that the city become “less reliant on law enforcement” for traffic stops, makes a series of recommendations in addition to employing unarmed civilians, including building ‘self-enforcing infrastructure,’ such as narrower streets, dedicated bike lanes and more clearly marked pedestrian crosswalks [all of which] naturally slow the flow of traffic and discourage drivers from speeding or breaking other road laws.”
Among the biggest fans of these ideas?
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore, who told the newspaper that “the department is very much interested in” alternatives to armed traffic enforcement and that if the Los Angeles Department of Transportation “were to pick that work up, I think we’d welcome it.”
Related: Philadelphia recently swore in their first class of public safety enforcement officers, “125 civilians who will take over jobs that had been exclusively done by police officers” and “will handle everything from directing traffic to writing tickets and ordering abandoned vehicles removed from city streets,” Tom MacDonald reported for Philly’s NPR affiliate WHYY. Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke explained why these new unarmed civilian workers are needed:
“[Police officers] didn’t go to the police academy to write tickets for abandoned cars. So having these [unarmed civilian] individuals replace those individuals so they can go out and do the job that we need them to do most, given the levels and the spikes in violence in the city of Philadelphia, is something that we’re extremely excited about.”
3. A Pair Of Excellent Opinion Pieces On Comprehensive Approaches To Public Safety
The heads of Albuquerque’s three branches of public safety—Fire Chief Emily Jaramillo, Police Chief Harold Medina, Community Safety Director Mariela Ruiz-Angel—penned a joint opinion piece in The Albuquerque Journal explaining why other cities across the country, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice, view Albuquerque's approach as a leading “model for investing in modern public safety”:
“The Albuquerque Community Safety Department… responds to emergency calls related to substance abuse, mental health and homelessness, diverting nearly 20,000 calls from the Albuquerque Police Department to date… This frees up sworn officers to focus on violent crime. The results are starting to show. Officers are responding quicker to emergency and non-emergency calls.”
In USA Today, Currie Myers, the former sheriff of Johnson County, Kansas and Ja’Ron Smith, who heads the conservative-leaning Public Safety Solutions for America, write that while …
“Police play a critical role in ensuring public safety… they do not have the same knowledge, training and expertise as mental health professionals and should not be the first responders for most situations involving a person experiencing a mental illness crisis … [Instead,] Law enforcement should be focused on preventing and solving serious crime.”
