NCJ Number
213017
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 73 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2006 Pages: 14-17
Date Published
January 2006
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes the responsibilities of law enforcement agencies under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS's) Pandemic Influenza Plan.
Abstract
At the individual level, law enforcement personnel will be responsible for controlling the spread of infection by enforcing the quarantine of individuals and groups who have come into contact with infection sources. The HHS plan urges local law enforcement agencies to prepare for having guards and other means ready to ensure the isolation of carriers of infection. At the community level, the HHS plan calls for the closure of public facilities where the interaction of large numbers of employees, students, consumers, and patrons may fuel the spread of the disease. Law enforcement officers will be called upon to enforce such closures. This will also involve enforcing restrictions on all sorts of travel that might contribute to spreading the disease from one region to another. Law enforcement leaders will be required to establish distinctive administrative structures and make decisions beyond their routine management responsibilities. Planning will require determining the legal authority for any extraordinary agency actions, making sure that law enforcement personnel and their families will receive vaccines and medication that are safe and effective, identifying protective measures personnel will use when having contact with infectious persons, and establishing a communications network with public health partners and relevant agencies in neighboring jurisdictions. Since law enforcement agencies are just one component of a communitywide, statewide, and national plan for addressing the pandemic, law enforcement leaders must ensure that representatives from all the relevant agencies and organizations engage in cooperative planning prior to a pandemic.