NCJ Number
183365
Date Published
2000
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This report provides an update for the 2 year progress report in which innovative law enforcement/drug court linkages developing across the country were highlighted, with attention to the reasons for these linkages and the coordination and strategy that lead to these partnerships.
Abstract
In 1996 the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the U.S. Justice Department and the National Association of Drug Court Professionals initiated a project to promote linkages between law enforcement and drug courts and institutionalize those linkages. This involved the development of a comprehensive strategy to educate law enforcement and drug court practitioners about the mutual benefits and the logic of working together to support each other's mission and goals. Four years later, law enforcement has become an integral part of 25 percent of operational drug courts, meaning that a law enforcement officer is assigned to the drug court or has been designated as the liaison to drug court. Some of the functions that this officer serves include communicating intelligence information about participants in the program to his/her fellow officers, expediting warrants, conducting home visits, and enforcing geographical restrictions ordered by the court. Drug court practitioners have in turn attended police roll calls and other forums to educate officers about the efficacy of drug courts. Law enforcement representatives have become valued members of drug court teams, offering input at review hearings and sharing intelligence information that has precluded inappropriate offenders from entering drug court programs. This progress report highlights many of the accomplishments of this project over the past 3 years, describes some of the linkages that exist across the country, and provides basic information on how to develop linkages for those jurisdictions without them. Appended supplementary information and a list of 8 resources