Police as public health interventionists

Over the last 20 years, there has been a significant development of collaborations that seek to address the common concerns raised by law enforcement and health. Medical and health practitioners have been integral criminal justice allies since the inception of modern policing. Contemporary risk assessment in policing (especially in relation to custody) is unimaginable without practice agreements between health and law enforcement. In this chapter, we reconsider the links between health—particularly, public health—and policing in the context of vulnerability.