NCJ Number
132696
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 39 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1991) Pages: 35-36
Date Published
1991
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article identifies reasons why AIDS training is necessary for police recruits and officers and suggests subjects for police AIDS training.
Abstract
AIDS training for police officers reduces their perceptions of risks for infection in accordance with accurate medical information on how AIDS is transmitted. AIDS training is also important for police officers because they regularly come into contact with people at high risk for contracting AIDS (e.g., prostitutes and drug users). In addition, police officers are in a position to convey health resource information to those most in need of it. As the prevalence of AIDS becomes more apparent under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which allows employers to test employees for the presence of the HIV virus between the time an offer of employment is made and the time the employee begins working, police must be trained to deal both with police agency personnel who may have the HIV and to address public panic that may stem from misguided perceptions of the risk of becoming infected. Theodore Hammett (1989) recommends that police AIDS training cover means of HIV transmission, methods of preventing transmission, first aid procedures, search procedures, arrest procedures, prisoner transportation, crime-scene processing, evidence handling and laboratory procedures, the disposal of contaminated materials, lockup issues, body removal procedures, liability issues, and HIV antibody testing procedures. 3 references