BWC/MSP/2010/MX/WP1 BWC/MSP/2010/MX/WP1 Meeting Of The States Parties To The

bwc/msp/2010/mx/wp.1 bwc/msp/2010/mx/wp.1 meeting of the states parties to the convention on the prohibition of the development, pr

BWC/MSP/2010/MX/WP.1
BWC/MSP/2010/MX/WP.1
Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention
on the Prohibition of the Development,
Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin
Weapons and on Their Destruction
12 August 2010
English Only
2010 Meeting
Geneva, 6–10 December 2010
Meeting of Experts
Geneva, 23–27 August 2010
Item 5 of the provisional agenda
Consideration of the provision of assistance and
coordination with relevant organizations upon
request by any State Party in the case of alleged
use of biological or toxin weapons, including
improving national capabilities for disease surveillance,
detection and diagnosis and public health systems.
Joint public health and law enforcement investigations: "enhancing
relationships to improve readiness"
Submitted by the United States of America
I. Introduction
1. In order to protect public health and safety by apprehending those
responsible and mitigating health consequences, deliberate biological
threat events require a coordinated response between law enforcement
and public health. In the past, it was not uncommon for law
enforcement and public health to conduct separate investigations, with
limited coordination between the two disciplines. Unfortunately, this
lack of coordination limited the effectiveness of these independent,
but often overlapping investigations. In order to promote
collaboration between the disciplines, the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) developed a Joint Criminal and Epidemiological
Investigations Course for public health and law enforcement personnel.
The Joint Investigations Course was designed to provide participants
with an introduction to criminal and epidemiological investigations,
enhance an appreciation of each discipline’s expertise, identify
potential conflicts that may be encountered between law enforcement
and public health during a response, and develop solutions by using
best practices when conducting joint threat assessments,
investigations, and interviews.
II. Joint Investigations Course
2. The domestic Joint Investigations Course is a two-day curriculum of
lectures and exercises that is facilitated by CDC and FBI instructors,
which emphasizes the need for a joint response to intentional
biological events. The lectures provide an overview of investigative
methods, information sharing practices, and case studies while the
exercises reinforce joint investigation principles and techniques. In
all, the course promotes a greater understanding among law enforcement
and public health personnel of respective roles, responsibilities, and
information needs regarding a response to a deliberate biological
threat event. While a response requires coordination between law
enforcement and public health, each group may be hesitant to share
specific-types of information because of actual or perceived
information sharing limitations. For example, law enforcement may be
reluctant to provide investigative information that may jeopardize the
safety of confidential informants or may result in suspects avoiding
detection. Conversely, public health is concerned with being legally
liable for the release of patient medical information without consent
and maintaining the culture of ethics and trust that exists between a
patient and the medical community. Through the use of practical
exercise, the course helps identify and resolve these potential
barriers in advance of an incident to ensure timely information is
exchanged during an actual response.
3. The Joint Investigations Course promotes several different methods
that may be used by law enforcement and public health to improve joint
responses. It begins first with encouraging law enforcement and public
health to develop positive and effective working relationships. Strong
professional relationships between law enforcement and public health
allow for greater exchanges of information since individuals generally
develop trust in their counterparts once they have met and worked with
them prior to an incident. A second method to increase the
effectiveness of a joint response is to codify the relationships in a
written protocol or agreement. An agreement or memorandum of
understanding (MOU) allows law enforcement and public health to move
beyond personal contacts and formalizes the concepts and principles
for conducting joint investigations of intentional biological threats.
A model MOU for Joint Public Health – Law Enforcement Investigations
was developed by a work group convened by the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Prevention
and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice. In
the Joint Investigations Course, instructors review several key
concepts outlined in the model MOU: the triggers/indicators required
to initiate information exchange, procedures for conducting a threat
assessment, instructions for conducting joint interviews, and
protocols for information analysis and the sharing of investigative
results. Finally, the Joint Investigations Course reviews the steps
for conducting joint law enforcement and public health interviews. The
joint interview is a process that pairs law enforcement and public
health investigators together during interviews of case patients and
exposed persons. The joint interviews allow both law enforcement and
public health the opportunity to evaluate the initial information
collected utilizing the expertise of each investigator, which could
aid in identifying the source of the infection and/or the perpetrators
and/or identify needs for additional information or avenues of
investigation. If interviews are conducted separately, one
investigator may not recognize the importance or significance of a
piece of information, which could be critical to their counterpart’s
investigation.
III. Joint Investigations Course – domestic
4. Since 2004, the domestic joint investigations course has been
conducted 17 times and more than 1,800 students have been trained at
Federal and state/local levels. Several states/local jurisdictions
used joint investigation methods to successfully respond to smaller
scale intentional incidents involving biological threat agents.
Additionally, course evaluations indicate the training often serves as
the first opportunity for law enforcement and public health
interaction. As a result, several state/local jurisdictions have used
the Joint Investigations Course as the foundation for developing
formal information sharing agreements and joint protocols between law
enforcement and public health.
IV. Joint Investigations Course – international
5. While the Joint Investigations Course was initially developed in
the United States, it has been adapted for use in other countries. The
CDC and FBI have partnered with numerous international organizations
and working groups (Interpol, Group of Eight Bioterrorism Experts
Group, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Organization of
American States) to conduct international versions of the course.
While the international version is based on the domestic course and
provides the same general principles and methodologies, it has been
modified to address country-specific issues and concerns where needed.
V. Conclusions
6. A joint public health and law enforcement investigation improves
responses to intentional biological events because it increases
information exchange and mutually supports the investigative goals of
both disciplines. Joint investigations training is an effective way to
promote the use of joint investigations.
VI. References
7. References:
(a) Butler, J., Cohen, M., Friedman, C., Scripp, R., and Watz, C.
(2002). Collaboration between public health and law enforcement: new
paradigms and partnerships for bioterrorism planning and response.
Emerging Infectious Diseases, 8(10), 1152-1156.
(b) Goodman, R., Munson, J., Dammers, K., Lazzarini, Z., and Barkley,
J. (2003). Forensic epidemiology: law at the intersection of public
health and criminal investigations. Journal of Law, Medicine, and
Ethics, 31, 684-700.
(c) Joint Public Health – Law Enforcement Investigations: Model
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). (2008). Retrieved on December 7,
2008, at the website:
http://www.nasemso.org/Projects/DomesticPreparedness/documents/JIMOUFinal.pdf
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