Does your local police department have a flu pandemic plan? The Police Executive Research Forum is advising law enforcement officials to prepare in case the swine flu outbreak becomes more widespread. PERF, a Washington-based organization of law enforcement chief executives, is referring its members to a 100-page primer, “Police Planning for An Influenza Pandemic,” that was prepared in 2007. (The link connects with the report, which is available to the press and public.)
The organization said law enforcers likely will play a role if a fatal pandemic occurs, such as when the “Hong Kong flu” caused 34,000 deaths in the United States in the late 1960s. The report notes, “Police may be called upon to enforce quarantines, to provide security in hospitals swamped with patients, and to ensure that vaccines–when they became available in limited quantities–could be delivered to those with the greatest need for them.” PERF said every police agency should have a plan because “when bad things happen, people call the police.”