Law enforcement officers' opinions about gun locks: anchors on life jackets?
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OBJECTIVES: One way law enforcement officers support firearm safety is by promoting the use of gun locks. This investigation examined law enforcement officers' willingness to use gun locks on their own guns, as well as their opinions regarding gun locks in general. SETTING: Law enforcement officers from an urban agency in the southern region of the United States. METHODS: Free keyed cable gun locks were distributed to all law enforcement officers in one agency who wanted one, and then an anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted about their subsequent use of, and attitudes toward, these devices. RESULTS: About half of the 207 officers collected gun locks (n=103). Nearly three quarters (73%) completed and returned the questionnaire. Two thirds reported that they were not using the gun lock they collected (65%), and over half disagreed that gun lock use should be required (56%). Very few cited any actual or potential technical problems with the device. An important reason given for non-use of gun locks related to being able to access the weapon quickly in case of an emergency. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the need for further investigation into law enforcement officers' attitudes toward gun locks, the degree to which their attitudes affect their firearm safety counseling, and the need to develop a gun safety device that can be disengaged quickly. (+info)
Investigation of bias after data linkage of hospital admissions data to police road traffic crash reports.
(18/334)
RESEARCH QUESTION: Does a database of hospital admission data linked to police road traffic accident (RTA) reports produce less biased information for the injury prevention policymaker, planner, and practitioner than police RTA reports alone? DESIGN: Data linkage study. STUDY POPULATION: Non-fatal injury victims of road traffic crashes in southern England who were admitted to hospital. DATA SOURCES: Hospital admissions and police RTA reports. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The estimated proportion of road traffic crashes admitted to hospital that were included on the linked database; distributions by age, sex, and road user groups: (A) for all RTA injury admissions and (B) for RTA serious injury admissions defined by length of stay or by nature of injury. RESULTS: An estimated 50% of RTA injury admissions were included on the linked database. When assessing bias, admissions data were regarded as the "gold standard". The distributions of casualties by age, sex, and type of road user showed major differences between the admissions data and the police RTA injury data of comparable severity. The linked data showed smaller differences when compared with admissions data. For RTA serious injury admissions, the distributions by age and sex were approximately the same for the linked data compared with admissions data, and there were small but statistically significant differences between the distributions across road user group for the linked data compared with hospital admissions. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that investigators could be misinformed if they base their analysis solely on police RTA data, and that information derived from the linked database is less biased than that from police RTA data alone. A national linked dataset of road traffic crash data should be produced from hospital admissions and police RTA data for use by policymakers, planners and practitioners. (+info)
Underreporting of traffic injuries involving children in Japan.
(19/334)
BACKGROUND: Significant underreporting of road traffic injuries by the police has been documented, even in developed countries. The objective of this study was to clarify the magnitude of underreporting of police data in Japan. METHODS: Police reports were compared with those of the fire department and the Marine and Fire Insurance Association of Japan. RESULTS: The results reveal significant underreporting by police of child vehicle occupant injuries. The true incidence of these injuries in preschoolers was twice as high as that provided by official police reports. CONCLUSION: Police reports would underestimate the magnitude of vehicle occupant injuries in children and distort any evaluations of preventive initiatives. Improving the police report system, and establishing a more comprehensive trauma registry, that would include data from hospitals and insurance companies should be implemented. (+info)
Poor conditions of detention compromise ethical standards.
(20/334)
The ethical standards of police surgeons are being compromised by conflict between obligations to their paymasters, the police authorities, and their responsibilities to their patients, when these patients are prisoners detained in unacceptable conditions and where even minimum standards of medical care and management are difficult to deliver. (+info)
Effects of sarin on the nervous system in rescue team staff members and police officers 3 years after the Tokyo subway sarin attack.
(21/334)
Although the clinical manifestations of acute sarin poisoning have been reported in detail, no comprehensive study of the chronic physical and psychiatric effects of acute sarin poisoning has been carried out. To clarify the chronic effects of sarin on the nervous system, a cross-sectional epidemiologic study was conducted 3 years after the Tokyo subway sarin attack. Subjects consisted of the rescue team staff members and police officers who had worked at the disaster site. Subjects consisted of 56 male exposed subjects and 52 referent subjects matched for age and occupation. A neurobehavioral test, stabilometry, and measurement of vibration perception thresholds were performed, as well as psychometric tests to assess traumatic stress symptoms. The exposed group performed less well in the backward digit span test than the referent group in a dose-effect manner. This result was the same after controlling for possible confounding factors and was independent of traumatic stress symptoms. In other tests of memory function, except for the Benton visual retention test (mean correct answers), effects related to exposure were also suggested, although they were not statistically significant. In contrast, the dose-effect relationships observed in the neurobehavioral tests (psychomotor function) were unclear. None of the stabilometry and vibration perception threshold parameters had any relation to exposure. Our findings suggest the chronic decline of memory function 2 years and 10 months to 3 years and 9 months after exposure to sarin in the Tokyo subway attack, and further study is needed. (+info)
Acupuncture for carpal tunnel syndrome.
(22/334)
Acupuncture was used to treat a 51-year-old 'lollipop lady' (school crossing patrol officer), with severe carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) affecting her dominant hand, and co-existing cervical spondylosis. I postulate that her symptoms were work related. She responded well to acupuncture, which provided good symptomatic treatment rather than cure and allowed her to continue working whilst she awaited surgical release. (+info)
Trends in mortality due to legal intervention in the United States, 1979 through 1997.
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OBJECTIVES: This report identifies trends in the number and rate of deaths due to law enforcement actions (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, category "legal intervention") in the United States. METHODS: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Compressed Mortality File was used to determine age-, race-, and sex-specific death rates due to legal intervention for the years 1979 through 1997. RESULTS: Males account for nearly all deaths, with the death rate for Black males several times that of White males. For both Whites and Blacks, the highest rates of death were observed for ages 20 to 34. Death rates declined significantly from 1979 to 1988 and remained stable thereafter. CONCLUSIONS: While legal intervention is an uncommon cause of death, some subpopulations experience rates of death many times that of the US population as a whole. (+info)
Section 136, The Mental Health Act 1983; levels of knowledge among accident and emergency doctors, senior nurses, and police constables.
(24/334)
OBJECTIVES: Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 empowers the police to detain those suspected of being mentally ill in public places, and convey them to a place of safety. In practice, accident and emergency (A&E) departments are often used. The authors assessed levels of knowledge of section 136 between A&E doctors, senior nurses, and police constables. METHODS: Doctors and senior nurses in all (A&E) departments in the Yorkshire region were asked to complete a multiple choice tick box type questionnaire, as were police constables from the Humberside Police Force. RESULTS: 179 completed questionnaires were returned, of which 16 were completed by consultants, 14 by SpRs, 24 by SHOs, 33 by senior nurses, and 92 by police officers. Some 24.1% of A&E staff and 10.9% of police failed to recognise that a person has to appear to be suffering from a mental disorder to be placed on a section 136; 40.2% of police did not know that section 136 is a police power; 55.2% of A&E staff and 14.1% of police incorrectly thought that a person could be placed on a section 136 in their own home; 43.75% of consultants and 50% of SpRs did not consider A&E departments to be a place of safety; 49.4% of A&E staff and 29.3% of police thought that patients could be transferred on a section 136. Only 10.3% of A&E staff and 22.8% of police had received any formal training. CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge among A&E staff and the police of this difficult and complex piece of mental health legislation is poor and requires action through formal education and training. This study not only reflects the levels of knowledge within the groups, it may also reflect the different perceptions of each group as to their role and duties within section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983. (+info)