It should be self-evident that having law-enforcement at service sites with criminalized populations would discourage those populations from coming there for services.

Long-time harm reduction leaders assert that the decision to call 911 should always be weighed against the very real possibility that the police could victimize your participants rather than help the situation in any way.

In general, it is antithetical to harm reduction best practices to call the police except under the most extreme life-or-death circumstances.

Not only can police escalate the situation further, but calling them in will erode the reputation of the program, as well as any community credibility and trust you had established.

If it is necessary to call 911 for a medical emergency, indicate to the dispatch officer that only paramedics are needed.

One hack is to reach out to various ambulance companies and see if any of them are willing for you to call them directly so that you avoid calling 911 altogether. This may not be possible in smaller jurisdictions, but in larger ones it is very possible, and you may find that some ambulance services are more compassionate towards your participants than others.