The Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA) is a not for profit, membership-based association governed by a Board of Directors elected by the membership and governed according to its own constitution.

Bringing the law enforcement and public health sectors together to address complex issues requiring an inter-sectoral approach is a rapidly emerging field, being explored in all jurisdictions and for a multitude of problems. Recognising the recurrent failure of approaches devised within isolated individual sectors, GLEPHA sees it of prime importance to bring together practitioners, policymakers, and academics to explore the nature of the myriad interactions between the police and public health sectors across the widest range of social, humanitarian, security, and public health issues.

Law enforcement is both a sector and an activity; public health is likewise a sector and an activity: together they have common goals of inclusive wellbeing and safety of the communities they serve. There are many professions engaged in these endeavours, and too often professional and disciplinary boundaries constrain our ability to develop optimum strategies to achieve these goals. Issues of governance and collaborative leadership are fundamental to effective alliances.

Our history

GLEPHA was formally established in 2017, growing out of the impetus built by the Australian-based, Centre for Law Enforcement and Public Health, established by Professor Nick Crofts AM in 2010. The First International Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference was held in Melbourne in 2012 with over 300 delegates from over 30 countries. The conference series cemented the international push for a Global LEPH Association.

We wanted a place to both define and develop the field of law enforcement and public health.  We brought together our expertise in law enforcement, epidemiology, public health, medicine and mental health from different countries with the goal of bringing into reality a formal field of study, grounded in the expertise of its members and the shared of values embodied in public safety and public health.

What drives us

To a large degree, societies are only as safe as they are healthy, and they are only as healthy as they are safe.  Our group arose to make a bridge between law enforcement and public health. We bring together professionals in both these fields and allied professions to do three things:

  • To facilitate formal research and disseminate what we learn
  • To create an intellectual home so professionals can think aloud, build connections, and share knowledge whatever country we are in, or whatever issues we are tackling
  • To hold close the goals of equality, inclusion, and the value of each life as we confront all that societies confront: systemic inequalities, climate change, social unrest, displacement, disease, and disenfranchisement.