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1 – 10 of over 5000
Article
Publication date: 1 March 1997

Sutham Cheurprakobkit, Pornchai Kuntee and Furjen Denq

Examines the attitudes of Thai police regarding drug enforcement in the following areas: drug laws, prosecutors and judges. Assesses the accuracy of officers’ knowledge of drug

Abstract

Examines the attitudes of Thai police regarding drug enforcement in the following areas: drug laws, prosecutors and judges. Assesses the accuracy of officers’ knowledge of drug laws. Explores the effects of 16 independent variables, derived from personal background, institutional support and drug offense information, on officers’ attitudes and knowledge. Using data collected from a survey of 672 Thai police officers, employs ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to examine the aggregate effect of independent variables on officers’ attitudes about drug enforcement and to identify the most significant independent variables. Finds that the officers have positive attitudes regarding drug enforcement but are not knowledgeable about the drug laws, and that several institutional variables have a positive significant influence on these attitudes.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2009

Jonathan Caulkins and Peter Reuter

This article provides an overview of the opportunities enforcement has to undertake activities to reduce harms caused by drug markets. Four pathways are open to the police in…

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the opportunities enforcement has to undertake activities to reduce harms caused by drug markets. Four pathways are open to the police in relation to drug harm‐reduction: reducing the amount of drug use; reducing the harm that drug users experience; reducing the harms that drug users impose on others; and reducing the harms caused by drug markets. It is the latter pathway that is the main focus of this article, which draws on a range of international examples. After highlighting that ‘not all dealers are equally destructive’ it is argued that one aim for enforcement could be to shape the drug market by making the most noxious forms of selling uncompetitive relative to less harmful practices.

Details

Safer Communities, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-8043

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Article
Publication date: 22 August 2010

James M. Frabutt, M. Kristen Hefner, Kristen L. Di Luca, Terri L. Shelton and Lynn K. Harvey

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the elements, developmental stages, and operational steps of an open‐air drug market intervention employed in two North Carolina…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the elements, developmental stages, and operational steps of an open‐air drug market intervention employed in two North Carolina communities in an effort to produce a model that can be duplicated by other law enforcement agencies.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic and practitioner‐informed analysis of the steps and stages of the initiative is presented here. Law enforcement partners at the command and operational levels collectively contributed their voices to the synthesis of this model. Through purposive sampling, 13 key law enforcement stakeholders from the two police departments in North Carolina participated in semi‐structured interviews conducted by a member of the research team. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed to extract participants' perceptions and recommendations regarding the intervention.

Findings

Based on analyses of the interviews, the street‐drug elimination strategy has been synthesized into several major steps. This paper elucidates the elements, developmental stages, and operational steps of the intervention.

Research limitations/implications

This paper underscores important ingredients of the intervention and presents a model for other police departments to implement. Further examination of the strategy is necessary including research on improving the intervention, clarifying the factors that moderate the strategy's effectiveness, explicating the roles and perceptions of non‐law enforcement partners and examining the continued impact of the initiative.

Originality/value

The paper illustrates that this intervention has shown promise in reducing drug and violent crime associated with open‐air drug markets and the research is of value to other police agencies that desire to implement this intervention.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 33 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 16 August 2023

Ian J. Warren and Emma Ryan

This chapter argues that the Americanisation of online policing has questionable impacts in Australian prosecutions involving drugs obtained and distributed through dark web…

Abstract

This chapter argues that the Americanisation of online policing has questionable impacts in Australian prosecutions involving drugs obtained and distributed through dark web cryptomarkets. The authors describe several Australian prosecutions of mid- and low-level dealers who have accessed drugs through the dark web and contrast these with the United States (US) case against the cryptomarket, AlphaBay. The discussion in this study emphasises how Australian police and courts view the relative weight of dark web activity associated with the domestic and transnational supply of illicit drugs that result in formal prosecutions. The authors suggest that large-scale forms of online and dark web police surveillance undertaken by US enforcement agencies reflect Ethan Nadelmann’s (Cops across borders: the internationalization of US criminal law enforcement, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993) thesis on the Americanisation of global policing through transnational communications networks. The authors then explain how key elements of transnational dark web drug supply appear to have a marginal bearing on criminal investigations into low- and mid-level traffickers in Australia, which rely on conventional surveillance tactics to identify clandestine mail pickups, physical distribution methods, and irregular money trails. However, the authors then illustrate how the Americanisation of online policing that targets high-level entrepreneurs and seeks to dismantle or eliminate dark web cryptomarkets has important implications on Australian reforms aimed at enhancing online surveillance powers to target a range of crimes that are often wrongly associated with illicit drug cryptomarkets. The authors conclude by demonstrating how intensive dark web surveillance has limited direct impact on routine drug policing in Australia, with dark web communications simply another medium for facilitating the physical detection of illicit transnational drug transactions.

Details

Digital Transformations of Illicit Drug Markets: Reconfiguration and Continuity
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-866-8

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 May 2011

Michael McFadden and Toni‐Lee Porter

The purpose of this paper is to assess the social impact, i.e. the estimated return to the Australian community, of Australian Federal Police (AFP) drug law enforcement effort in…

1429

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the social impact, i.e. the estimated return to the Australian community, of Australian Federal Police (AFP) drug law enforcement effort in general and the relative success of specific policy initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach

Benefit‐cost analysis (BCA) was employed in the assessment of 2,716 drug investigations that took place between 2000 and 2005. Costs associated with the Australian Customs Service, the legal process and prisons were included. Benefits related to the economic estimate of reduced harm in terms of death and injury, crime, reduced productivity, and pain and suffering associated with the use of illicit drugs.

Findings

The results suggest that the Australian community receives $5.80 of benefit in terms of potential harm avoided for every dollar invested in drug law enforcement. Specific policy initiatives were found to result in higher than average returns: investigations involving domestic and international partners ($6.00 and $9.20 respectively), an emphasis on serious and complex crime ($9.20), and intelligence‐led policing ($7.90).

Research limitation/implications

The estimation of economic benefits is the most contentious area of the study. The AFP is undertaking a review of its estimation of benefits.

Originality/value

The results suggest that AFP drug law enforcement provides a positive contribution to the wellbeing of the Australian community. Furthermore, the findings indicate that specific drug law enforcement initiatives enhance the relative effectiveness of drug law enforcement in Australia. The study also provides an example to other public sector agencies of the use of BCA to determine the social impact of their policies.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 24 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2001

Gregory M. Vecchi and Robert T. Sigler

Forfeiture of assets has become an important tool in drug interdiction. Forfeiture provides substantial funds to law enforcement agencies and can produce goal displacement. A…

1431

Abstract

Forfeiture of assets has become an important tool in drug interdiction. Forfeiture provides substantial funds to law enforcement agencies and can produce goal displacement. A survey was conducted of all members of three task forces dedicated to drug interdiction in the Miami, Florida area regarding the goals and the value of asset forfeiture. While all subjects endorsed the goals relating to the punishment of drug dealers as most important, federal officers not assigned to joint task forces valued economic benefits to the agency less than federal agents assigned to joint task forces who, in turn, valued economic benefits less than non‐federal task force agents.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 24 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2002

Peter Shields

In the US (and elsewhere), law enforcement agencies take the position that new telecommunications technologies are eroding their abilities to intercept and monitor electronic…

884

Abstract

In the US (and elsewhere), law enforcement agencies take the position that new telecommunications technologies are eroding their abilities to intercept and monitor electronic communications. They argue that they are “losing control”. Without new telecommunications surveillance powers, the argument runs, drug traffickers and terrorists will be able to operate with impunity within virtual sanctuaries. The problem with this narrative is that it functions to deflect attention from the fact that the US State has contributed significantly to some of the very problems that that have generated the calls for new surveillance powers. An alternative narrative sketched. It is argued that the escalation of the US State’s failed War on Drugs has been a key factor behind the proliferation of the recent surveillance initiatives. It is suggested that a similar dynamic may be operating in the US State’s New War on Terrorism.

Details

info, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6697

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2004

John L. Worrall

The argument is presented that, is contrast to expectations, the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA) of 2000 will not be responsible for significant change in the practice…

1029

Abstract

The argument is presented that, is contrast to expectations, the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA) of 2000 will not be responsible for significant change in the practice of civil asset forfeiture, that the Act is a sheep in wolf's clothing. While it has ushered in some important procedural changes, CAFRA does not address several of what critics perceive to be the most significant problems associated with civil asset forfeiture, among them are a questionable standard of proof, equitable sharing, and the so‐called “taint doctrine.” Thus, it is likely that civil asset forfeiture will continue to be a valuable law enforcement tool in the war on drugs.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 May 2023

Ediomo-Ubong Nelson, Ogochukwu Winifred Odeigah and Emeka W. Dumbili

The purpose of this study is to understand the complex interplay between illicit opioids trade and consumption practices and state policies that aim to reduce their misuse.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand the complex interplay between illicit opioids trade and consumption practices and state policies that aim to reduce their misuse.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted an exploratory design. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews with 31 commercially oriented drug dealers in Uyo, Nigeria. The framework approach was used in data analyses, while “friction” provided the interpretive lens.

Findings

Accounts revealed public concerns over the misuse of tramadol and other opioids among young people and the associated health and social harms. These concerns provided support for enforcement-based approaches to prescription opioids control, including police raids on pharmacy stores. These measures did not curtail opioids supply and consumption. Instead, they constrained access to essential medicines for pain management, encouraged illegal markets and fuelled law enforcement corruption in the form of police complicity in illegal tramadol trade.

Research limitations/implications

The findings reveal the frictions of drug control in Nigeria, wherein enforcement-based approaches gained traction through public concerns about opioids misuse but also faced resistance due to the persistence of non-medical use and illegal supply channels made possible by law enforcement complicity. These indicate a need to prioritize approaches that seek to reduce illegal supply and misuse of opioids while ensuring availability of these medications for health-care needs.

Originality/value

The study is unique in its focus on the creative tension that exists between state control measures and local opioids supply and consumption practices.

Details

Drugs, Habits and Social Policy, vol. 24 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2752-6739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 May 2012

Diana L. Summers and Emil W. Pływaczewski

The dynamics of drug use and trafficking in Poland have changed dramatically since the early 1990s. These changes include legal definitions of drug use, the actors involved in…

Abstract

Purpose

The dynamics of drug use and trafficking in Poland have changed dramatically since the early 1990s. These changes include legal definitions of drug use, the actors involved in trafficking, and the types of drugs traversing the country. The Polish police force experienced two significant reforms in the 1990s and drug‐related legislation underwent significant reconstruction in 1997 and 2000, while drug trafficking operations continue to persist by organized criminal groups. The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate these police reforms and drug legislation developments since 1990, and empirically analyze the interaction effects of these reforms with drug trafficking arrests in Poland.

Design/methodology/approach

Officially reported annual data were tested using multivariate regression analyses.

Findings

The findings observed from this exploratory study suggest that both the police reforms and changes in drug‐related legislation positively affected the number of arrests for drug trafficking. Additionally, this study found support for an increase in efficiency of the policing model despite the recent decline in the strength of the police force. Interestingly, the number of police officers in the country had no effect on any of the variables.

Research limitations/implications

Quantitatively, the small number of observations poses limitations on the interpretation of the multivariate regression results. In addition, future research should include additional explanatory variables to achieve a greater comprehensive summary of the interaction effects of policing reforms and drug‐related legislation with drug trafficking arrests.

Practical implications

This paper illustrates the need for accurate and timely national‐level, systematically collected data on drug‐ and police‐related indicators that will allow for more inclusive and comprehensive analyses.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to empirically examine potential interaction effects of police reform and drug‐related legislation on drug trafficking arrests in Poland.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 35 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 5000