The Role of Law Enforcement in Community-wide Prevention Programming

Implementing evidence-based prevention programming at the community level warrants the support and involvement of many community resources—schools, health care providers, families, children and social services, faith-based organizations, and law enforcement, to list but a few. For example, the impact of environmental prevention programming on tobacco smoking and underage drinking has shown how important the enforcement of laws and regulations are to the effectiveness of these interventions. Enforcing no smoking regulations and ID laws to prevent underage access to alcohol have long been recognized in terms of their ability to make a difference.  But local prevention coalitions and other organizations are not always successful in bringing law enforcement to the table to contribute their expertise and authority to help in planning and implementing prevention at the community level.  

This Prevention Talk will focus on how to appropriately engage law enforcement in the implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies, with specific reference to the prevention of substance use.