NCJ Number
171193
Journal
Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine Volume: 21 Issue: 7 Dated: (July 1997) Pages: 34-40
Date Published
1997
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article provides an overview of the need for and the responsibilities of police units that deal with crime and disturbances in large city hospitals.
Abstract
For years, hospital staff workers throughout the Nation have been concerned about increased violence in their workplace in the forms of verbal threats, assaults, attacks, and death. Employee and patient safety has become a priority that has some facilities increasing their security services by adopting police standards and procedures. Professionally trained, certified, uniformed, and sometimes armed, law enforcement officers are being assigned to protect medical workers from being spit upon, threatened, and injured by dangerously distraught assailants, whose numbers are increasing in hospital settings. Hospital police departments enable administrators to protect their environment in a specialized manner designed to meet a healthcare center's unique needs. Particular problems with which such police often must deal are the bringing of weapons into emergency rooms and the presence of gang members in association with gang-related shootings. In higher risk areas such as the trauma center and psychiatric unit, officers are often posted around the clock. Other officers patrol the hospital, and watch commanders are assigned to oversee and monitor patrol activities. Hospital officers may arrest people, ticket cars, and appear in court, thus performing duties in the hospital setting similar to those of officers responsible for law enforcement in the larger community.