Factors associated with extrajudicial arrest for syringe possession: results of a department-wide survey of municipal police in Tijuana, Mexico

Morales, Mario; Rafful, Claudia; Gaines, Tommi L.; Cepeda, Javier A.; Abramovitz, Daniela; Artamonova, Irina; Baker, Pieter; Clairgue, Erika; Mittal, Maria Luisa; Rocha-Jimenez, Teresita; Arredondo, Jaime; Kerr, Thomas; Bañuelos, Arnulfo; Strathdee, Steffanie A.; Beletsky, Leo

doi:10.1186/s12914-018-0175-1

BMC International Health and Human Rights

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of municipal police officers by arrest for syringe possession in last 6 months (N = 1044)^a

From: Factors associated with extrajudicial arrest for syringe possession: results of a department-wide survey of municipal police in Tijuana, Mexico

	Non-arrestor		Arrestor
	n = 544		n = 500
	n/median	%/ IQR	n/median	%/ IQR	Total	%	p-value
Sociodemographic
Sex
Men	471	51.0	452	49.0	923	88.5	0.064
Women	72	60.0	48	40.0	120	11.5
Age	37	32–43	37	32–43	1041	100	0.984
Education
<High school	105	52.5	95	47.5	200	20.9	0.947
= High School	302	51.6	283	48.4	585	61.1
>High school	91	52.9	81	47.1	172	18.0
Marital status
Single/Never married	70	59.3	48	40.7	118	15.9	0.230
Married/Common law	301	52.4	273	47.6	574	77.2
Separated/Divorced/Widowed	24	46.2	28	53.9	52	7.0
Policing characteristics
Years in law enforcement	10.5	6.8–16.3	10.5	5.8–17	975	100	0.991
Number of times ever been stuck by a needle
0	485	53.5	422	46.5	907	86.9	0.024
1	38	48.7	40	51.3	78	7.5
2 or more	21	35.6	38	64.4	59	5.7
District of service
Along Tijuana River Canal	153	37.9	251	62.1	404	38.7	< 0.001
Elsewhere	391	61.1	249	38.9	640	61.3
Attitudes towards drug use
PWUD do not care about their health
Disagree	45	60.0	30	40.0	75	7.2	0.275
Agree	434	51.9	403	48.2	837	80.3
Neither agree nor disagree	63	48.5	67	51.5	130	12.5
Drug addiction is a disease
Disagree	52	55.3	42	44.7	94	9.1	0.201
Agree	452	51.1	433	48.9	885	86.1
Neither agree nor disagree	31	63.3	18	36.7	49	4.8
PWUD do not deserve to be treated as other people
Disagree	413	53.9	354	46.2	767	74.0	0.148
Agree	74	49.3	76	50.7	150	14.5
Neither agree nor disagree	54	45.0	66	55.0	120	11.6
Interactions with PWUD
Referrals of PWUD to social/health programs^a
Never/Rarely	379	69.7	246	49.3	625	59.9	< 0.001
Always/Sometimes	165	30.3	253	50.7	418	40.1
Physical altercation with PWUD^a
Never/Rarely	356	65.6	199	40.0	555	53.4	< 0.001
Always/Sometimes	187	34.4	298	60.0	485	46.6
Knowledge of the law of syringe possession
Can a person possess syringes under the law of Baja California, Mexico?
No	156	29.7	180	37.9	336	33.6	0.006
Yes	369	70.3	295	62.1	664	66.4

IQR Interquartile range, PWUD people who use drugs, ^athe question refers to the last 6 months, p < 0.05 are bolded
Table 1 and Table 2 refer to PWUD, rather than PWID to accurately reflect the Escudo survey as it asks MPOs about attitudes towards PWUD and interactions with PWUD, rather than attitudes towards PWID or interactions with PWID

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ISSN: 1472-698X

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