Medical research and epidemiological data indicate that AIDS is a very serious problem, but that the virus that causes AIDS is transmissible only by intimate sexual relations and direct blood-to-blood contact. Education and training must be the cornerstone of agencies' response to AIDS. Training should cover transmissibility and methods of preventing transmission and procedures for first aid, arrest, search, prisoner transport, evidence handling, and body removal. Agencies can either issue specific AIDS policies and procedures or revise existing communicable disease policies to address AIDS issues. Agencies also should consider legal and labor relation issues associated with reporting of incidents in which transmission of AIDS may have occurred, liability, transmission of AIDS among prisoners, and AIDS antibody testing. Appendixes include additional medical information on AIDS, a resources list, and examples of police AIDS policies and protocols. Chapter endnotes.