This has led to increased concern among officers about their health and the health of their families (Schuppe 2020).īeyond the dangers associated with close contact with the public, the COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted the potential for intentional contamination of officers. By early April 2020, over two thousand law enforcement officers had already tested positive for COVID-19 (the vast majority in New York City), and thousands more officers reported exposure to an individual with the virus (Cave & Dahir 2020 NPF, 2020).

Furthermore, officers working in or around correctional facilities are especially at risk of contracting and spreading the virus due to the close quarters (Maruschak, Sabol, Potter, Reid, & Cramer 2009). Law enforcement officers, though, cannot carry out many of their duties without being in close personal contact with other people and may not have immediate access to all necessary sanitization supplies in the field (Barr 2020). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2020) guidelines suggest: 1) social distancing (maintaining a distance of six-feet from other individuals to avoid exposure), 2) maintaining proper hand hygiene (washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds), and 3) avoiding touching one’s face with unwashed hands. Given the person-to-person spread of COVID-19 through respiratory droplets, law enforcement officers are at a heightened risk of exposure due to their close contact with members of the public (CDC, 2020). COVID-19 Recommendations for Law Enforcement Responses

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