Risk mitigation of inadvertent exposure to biothreats to front line law enforcement

Authors

  • C Raina MacIntyre Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales
  • Abrar A Chughtai University of New South Wales School of Public Health and Community Medicine
  • Shovon Bhattacharjee Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales
  • Mohana Priya Kunasekaran Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales
  • Thomas Engalls Formerly (deceased), University of Texas Medical Branch

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31646/gbio.59

Keywords:

police, law enforcement, personal protective equipment (PPE), chemical, biological, risk

Abstract

Awareness and concern over the occupational health and safety of first responders to biological threat and other hazardous exposures has grown. Law enforcement personnel play an important role in the response to such events and may even be the first on the scene to hazardous exposures. Front line police entering a property and expecting to find drugs and weapons may also unexpectedly find biological or chemical agents. In the case of a pandemic like COVID-19, they may be exposed to virus in their ordinary duties. We argue that the risk of exposure is increasing, and will continue to increase, driven by advances in science and biology which makes chemical and biological agents more accessible to a wide range of actors. In addition, serious epidemics of newly emerged infections are increasing in frequency. Although the level of risk to police will vary depending on the exposure, the uniformed officers at the front line may be at highest risk because of a higher likelihood of being unprotected when they encounter biothreats. Planning focuses on response to known events by well-trained and well-equipped HAZMAT (hazardous materials) teams. Better preparedness is required for unexpected exposure of front-line police. This includes expanded training and design of regular uniforms to reduce exposure, provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits which include disinfectant wipes, chemical wipes and biosensors. As the use of chemical and biological weapons by nefarious actors increases, these changes may become a necessity to protect the occupational health and safety of police.

Author Biographies

C Raina MacIntyre, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales

Professor Raina MacIntyre is Professor of Global Biosecurity and NHMRC Principal Research Fellow at the Kirby Institute, UNSW, and an adjunct professor at Arizona State University. She is a specialist physician with a masters and PhD in epidemiology. She leads a research program in control and prevention of infectious diseases, spanning epidemiology, risk analysis, vaccinology, bioterrorism, mathematical modelling, public health and clinical trials. She has over 370 peer reviewed publications and sits on several expert committees and editorial boards. Her awards including the Sir Henry Wellcome Medal and Prize from the Association of Military Surgeons of the US for her work on bioterrorism, the PHAA Immunisation Achievement Award, The CAPHIA Research Award and the Frank Fenner Award. She has pioneered concepts of biological threat detection using cross-disciplinary methods. She has done the largest body of clinical trials on face masks and respirators in health workers internationally. Her current research focuses on vaccines (including smallpox), emerging infections, personal protective equipment, aerosol dynamics, dispersion of respiratory pathogens, and bioterrorism detection and prevention.

Abrar A Chughtai, University of New South Wales School of Public Health and Community Medicine

Dr Abrar Chughtai Abrar is a medically trained epidemiologist, with more than 18 years’ experience in the health sector with governmental, non-governmental and international health organizations. He has a substantial experience of public health programs and infectious diseases research, having worked in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Tuberculosis Control Programs for many years. Currently is a Lecturer in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine ar UNSW. His research interests include infectious diseases epidemiology and control, personal protective equipment, vaccine preventable diseases and surveillance. He is an emerging leader in research on PPE and has conducted many epidemiological, clinical and policy studies to examine various aspects of PPE in both high and low-income countries. His most important research contributions have been to examine the role of facemasks in resource limited settings. He has more than 80 publications in last 7 years that were instrumental in the development and or modification of national and international infection control policies.

Shovon Bhattacharjee, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales

Mr Shovon Bhattacharjee is a UNSW Scientia PhD student, with a chemistry background. He has a BSc and masters in chemistry. His PhD research at the Biosecurity Program, The Kirby Institute, UNSW, is on developing graphene-modified fabrics for enhanced personal protective clothing.

Mohana Priya Kunasekaran, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales

Ms Mohana Kunasekaran is a PhD student with the Biosecurity Program, The Kirby Institute, UNSW, with a public health background. Her PhD research is on control of influenza. She has a Master of Public Health.

Thomas Engalls, Formerly (deceased), University of Texas Medical Branch

Chief Thomas Engells was the Chief of Police at the University of Texas Medical Branch from 2010, until his death in January 2018 at age 59. Chief Engells was a law enforcement officer for the University of Texas System for more than 34 years and had twice been named the system’s police chief of the year, in 2011 and 2014. He was responsible for biosecurity at The National Laboratory in Galveston, Texas, a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory that conducts research on highly infectious diseases, such as Ebola. Chief Engells was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. For 20 years he served as assessor and team leader for the national Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. Chief Engells grew up in Austin, Texas and graduated from the University of Texas in 1979. He received a master’s degree in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University and a master’s in homeland security and defense from the U.S. Naval postgraduate school in 2005.

Downloads

Published

2020-03-19

How to Cite

MacIntyre, C. R., Chughtai, A. A., Bhattacharjee, S., Kunasekaran, M. P., & Engalls, T. (2020). Risk mitigation of inadvertent exposure to biothreats to front line law enforcement. Global Biosecurity, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.31646/gbio.59

Issue

Vol. 2 (2020)

Section

Editorials and Commentaries

License

Copyright (c) 2020 The Author(s)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Received 2020-03-13
Accepted 2020-03-13
Published 2020-03-19