[Pharmwaste] Police Dept Accreditation vs. Drop-box

[Ed Gottlieb]

A police chief, who wants to host a drop-box in the program we are establishing, just informed me of a major obstacle to her participation.  Chief Ryan's department is accredited by the New York State Association of Chiefs of Police (NYSACP), currently the only department in our county to have this honor.  NYSACP guidelines require a police department receiving medications from citizens, including from a drop-box, to create an incident report with an itemized list of medications received.  Each item would also need to be individually bagged and sealed.  That burden would keep her department from participating.  Some other police departments in our county, who have agreed to host a drop-box, are working towards becoming accredited.  In the future, when they are ready to submit applications for accreditation, they would have to close their boxes.  
 
There is hope.  Specific NYSACP guidelines do not have to be adhered to if they are in conflict with local law.  I am now looking into what would be involved for our county to create a M.O.U. establishing the drop-box program and specifying how it is to be operated, including that collected materials do not need to be itemized before witnessed destruction.  If this is possible, our group will work with Chief Ryan and NYSACP to be sure the draft county M.O.U. properly address this issue before finalizing it. 
 
I don't know if this problem exists in other states.  I don't even know if all states have police associations that grant certification or what standards they might have regarding the handling of "evidence" created by an "incident" such as someone dropping off unwanted medications.  I also don't know about standards for national accreditation from programs such as the one administered by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.  
 
Assuming this problem has not yet been pointed out, it may be because certification is difficult and no law enforcement agency currently participating in one day collections or drop-box programs is certified.  Or, maybe some states certification standards make allowance for these high volume programs by not requiring such detailed tracking and secure handling procedures?
 
If you are starting a drop-box program, I'd certainly suggest that ask local law enforcement if such a conflict could exist.  If so, maybe the solution we are trying will work for you.
 
Ed Gottlieb
Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal 
Industrial Pretreatment  Coordinator 
Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility
525 3rd Street
Ithaca, NY  14850
(607) 273-8381
fax: (607) 273-8433
 
 
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