Police

Interview with Ron Martin, Retired Law Enforcement Officer Residing in Raleigh, NC

Ronald Martin is a retired officer with over 20 years of experience in law enforcement. His career took him through a wide array of different departments, including patrol, special operations squad, and the narcotics division. He entered the police force around the time that crack-cocaine was becoming a popular street drug, especially where he worked in New York City.

“For about 7 years in the 1980s, nearly every robbery, rape, or assault we encountered was in some way connected to crack-cocaine,” says Ron. “Almost everyone we arrested was carrying crack pipes, vials, or antennas from cars and umbrellas.”

During an 18th month period ending in 2009, the small city of Quincy, Massachusetts suffered 47 citizen deaths from accidental drug overdose. The victims spanned all ages, from young teens experimenting with drugs, to elderly folks who unintentionally mixed up prescription medications and habitual substance abusers. The incidence of an eighteen-year-old who overdosed on heroin marked the last straw and a group of parents, along with the Lt Detective Patrick Glynn of the Quincy Police Department, decided to do something about it. The group partnered with the Bay State Community Services to gain support from the mayor and the Chief of Police, and were able to convince the Massachusetts Public Health Department that overdose deaths were a major issue that needed attention. By early 2011, Quincy had become a case study in a new pilot program to train police officers on how to resuscitate overdose victims using nasal Narcan, an opiate reversal drug.

Event: Law Enforcement Safety & Drug Policy Summit

WHEN: June 12th, 2012

WHAT TIME IS THE EVENT: Registration starts at 8 am, and the event begins at 9 am and will go through Noon. A lunch will be served to registered guests after the summit.

WHERE: North Carolina Legislative Auditorium, 16 Jones Street, Raleigh, NC

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Law Enforcement, Legislators, Legislative, Support Staff, Public Health Officials, Lobbyists, Harm Reductionists, Drug Policy Reformers, Policy Reformers, People Who Work With Incarcerated Populations and the Substance Abuse Community

WHAT WILL BE COVERED: Law Enforcement Needlestick Reduction, Law Enforcement Safety around Drug Overdoses, Reducing Recidivism While Maintaining Public Order and Drug Policy Reform

WHO WILL BE PRESENTING: Law Enforcement Safety Experts, Law Enforcement, Drug Policy Experts and Republican & Democratic Legislators, and Conservative, Liberal & Moderate Policy Institutes

PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT

North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition Law Enforcement Safety Training Program

The relationship between law enforcement and drug users is not always positive, but fortunately, that doesn’t have to be the case. The North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC) is working to bring drug users and law enforcement together by educating both groups on public health initiatives to protect each other from blood borne disease such as hepatitis C and HIV.

There is a disturbing trend happening across the country,and we can now add one more casualty to the list of Things-That-Shouldn’t-Be-Illegal-But-Are: condoms. Though condoms themselves are not illegal,in many cities they can be used as the basis for police harassment and arrest or as evidence of prostitution in court. In New York City, Washington DC and San Francisco, police are using the number of condoms women are carrying to justify profiling them as prostitutes, and even to bolster an arrest on charges of sexual solicitation.

Five years ago, dismembered pieces of a human body were found floating in the French Broad River in Asheville, North Carolina. Forensics identified the victim as Kelly Lane Smith, a local prostitute, and though all evidence pointed to a local man infamous for the brutalization and rape of sex workers in the area, he was never charged, never convicted, and he left Asheville a free man.

Why couldn’t an obvious suspect be convicted? Because Kelly was a prostitute.

Jeff Riorden has enjoyed quite a few interesting career paths, including police officer, paramedic, and a health practitioner in the U.S. Navy before deciding to study at the Duke School of Nursing in Durham, North Carolina. All these careers have one thing in common – concern for public health and safety – which is why Jeff is also a supporter of harm reduction programs that reduce the spread of disease in our communities.

Along with many of his fellow nursing students, Jeff has come out to volunteer with the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition on our outreach trips through drug user and sex worker neighborhoods in Durham where we provide education and testing for HIV and hepatitis C. On these trips, he’s spoken about his experience as a former police officer and how law enforcement could benefit from a better understanding of harm reduction programs. Programs such as syringe exchange are shown to reduce the incidence of needle-sticks to officers by 66%.

WHAT WOULD SYRINGE DECRIMINALIZATION DO?

The Needle Exchange Program of Asheville (NEPA) is North Carolina’s longest running syringe exchange program. Founded by Michael Harney and Marty Prairie in 1995, NEPA currently provides between 1500-2000 clean syringes a month to drug users and people without health insurance in Western North Carolina. The story of how the program started can serve as a resource to others who wish to implement syringe exchange programs (SEPs) in other parts of the state.