Surveillance Of High Risk Public Areas

Summary

Because its retail price cannot be regulated through taxation, authorities try to influence the price of illegal drugs, including methamphetamine, through the enforcement of laws against producers, distributors, and sellers. The underlying assumptions are that increased enforcement will raise costs to drug producers, suppliers and dealers and that these additional costs will be reflected in increased retail drug prices. Even if enforcement activities do not lead to increased drug prices, they might still be considered successful if they affect supply, making drugs scarcer.

Police have long known that there are “hot spots” in many communities that generate many calls for service. The presence of uniformed officers at these locations tends to deter the activities of would-be offenders; it also guarantees immediate response to problems. By concentrating law enforcement resources in specific locations for several hours a day, hot spot strategies disrupt retail drug sales without necessarily increasing arrests.

This strategy includes the following options:

• Policing an area in a highly visible fashion
• Enforcing the law intensively
• Warning potential buyers

Core Components

Dosage/Frequency

Dosage and frequency will be decided dependent on the type of change the community focuses on. This dosage will need to be reviewed and approved by the Agency. Contact the Agency Project Director/Coordinator for additional grant requirements about this documentation.

Required Key Steps

In collaboration with the coalition and community partners, complete the following:

• Review the problem of high-risk public areas and drug use in the community.
  • Consider asking questions in the Understanding Your Local Problem resource.
• Meet with law enforcement to gage support of the strategy and to discuss the following:
  • Dosage and frequency expectations for completing enforcement efforts.
    • Law enforcement agencies may not understand grant expectations so it is important to make those clear from the start of the project and discuss to see if law enforcement can commit to these expectations.
• Discuss costs per program. Explain that these programs are grant funded and agree on a cost that can be sustainable within the project funding throughout the rest of the grant.
• Ask if there is a formally written protocol for conducting surveillance of high-risk public areas.
• If there is no formally written plan, ensure a detailed patrol protocol is created with law enforcement input and approval.
• Discuss barriers of enforcement of high-risk public areas.
  • Some barriers can include reduced budgets, lack of hours dedicated to enforcement, lack of equipment, and a lack of community support for enforcement efforts.
  • Discuss how the project can assist with these needs (any resources purchased should be connected to strategy support).
  • Community support for law enforcement efforts is an important component to consider. If support is low, identify ways to increase support through the coalition.
• Create an operations plan for implementation including:
  • Locations and dates/times for the patrols.
  • Consider time of day the operations are scheduled which includes times when patrols may happen more frequently.
  • Needs for staffing the patrols.
• Decide on patrol processes including:
  • What outcome measures to track and how those measures will be documented.
    • Consider the outcome measures listed in the Understanding Your Local Problem resource.
    • Host briefings on the process to discuss the process.

Capacity Building

Create a capacity building plan to continually engage strategy stakeholders. Some ideas include:

• Community support for law enforcement efforts is an important component to consider. If support is low, identify ways to increase support through the coalition.
• Create a report on strategy outcomes to share with community stakeholders.
• Regularly (at least quarterly) meet with law enforcement agencies to review progress, discuss challenges and remind about grant expectations.
• Invite law enforcement officers involved in these enforcement efforts to present on the strategy at community events or community meetings.
• Recruit a law enforcement officer involved in the strategy to serve on the coalition or help be a champion for the strategy in the community.

Implementation Resources

Responses to the Problems of Drug Dealing in Open-Air Markets

References

Barnum, J. D., Campbell, W. L., Troccio, S., Caplan, J. M., & Kennedy, L. W. (2016). Examining the environmental characteristics of drug dealing locations. Crime & Delinquency, 63(13), 1731-1756. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128716649735

Birckmayer, J., Fisher, D. A., Holder, H. D., & Yacoubian, G. S. (2008). Prevention of methamphetamine abuse: Can existing evidence inform community prevention? Drug Education, 28(2), 147-165. https://doi.org/10.2190/DE.38.2.d