Among the occupational hazards that exist for the law enforcement officers of our communities, used syringes and needles are often not considered.

Guns, knives, and other weapons often come to mind, but the dangers of drug paraphernalia are often not given adequate consideration in terms of the dangers that they pose to the brave men and women who serve our communities as law enforcement officers.

Inadvertent needle sticks are no joke. Any health care worker knows this. In fact, any student training to become a health care worker knows this.

Health care workers are required to go through hours of safety training, both as students orienting to the clinical setting in general, and again as employees orienting to hospitals, clinics and primary care offices. Although they are more likely to encounter dirty needles on a daily basis, inadvertent needle sticks are an unnecessary hazard to which law enforcement officers need not be exposed.

Unfortunately, according to national studies, one in three law enforcement officers will suffer an accidental needle-stick during at some point during his or her career. Additionally, 28 percent of these officers who suffer one needle stick will receive multiple sticks. Most of the exposures to contaminated needles occur because of current laws that criminalize the possession of syringes. Inevitably, these laws will ensure that suspects lie when asked by an officer if they are carrying “sharps” prior to officer pat-downs and searches. It’s a simple lie that puts law enforcement officers at grave risk for exposure to dangerous blood-borne disease such as HIV or viral hepatitis C.

Talk to any officer who has suffered a needle-stick and he or she will speak of fear and months of waiting for follow-up tests to determine whether any disease was transmitted. HIV can remain undetectable in the body for up to six months, which can be an agonizing window of uncertainty. Furthermore, the lucky officers whose departments can afford costly post-exposure prophylaxis treatment will likely spend these months of uncertainty on a treatment regimen that includes a chemo-like medication intended to reduce the chances of the virus surviving inside the body.

Given what is known about needle sticks and the dangers that they pose, it would be irresponsible for our community not to take action and fight for the protection of those who protect us. Empirical data has shown that one of the most effective ways to reduce the incidence of needle-stick injuries to law enforcement is to decriminalize syringes. Removing them from the list of items considered “drug paraphernalia” would not decriminalize the possession or use of illegal drugs, but it would decrease the likelihood that someone would lie to an officer who asks if he or she is carrying “sharps.” With inadvertent needle-sticks with contaminated syringes no longer a concern of law enforcement officers, we could rely on them to perform their jobs to their fullest extent.

Decriminalizing syringes in communities where drug use is illegal will not increase the rates of drug users any more than distributing condoms at high schools that preach abstinence in their sex education curriculum will increase the number of high schoolers having sex. So why not decriminalize syringes? If people are going to continue to engage in high-risk activities, why not make sure that they are conducting themselves in the safest manner possible?

Decriminalizing syringes will encourage drug users to utilize local syringe exchange programs. The utilization of such programs will increase the likelihood that users are using clean syringes and decrease the risk posed to our law enforcement officers. Supporting syringe decriminalization in order to protect law enforcement officers is the least we can do to show our support and gratitude for all that they do to protect our communities.

Amelia Kyle Rountree is a student at the Duke University School of Nursing.