NCJ Number
115821
Journal
Police Journal Volume: 62 Issue: 1 Dated: (January-March 1989) Pages: 31-42
Date Published
1989
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Information from interviews with about 30 United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents as well as with journalists, diplomats, and foreign law enforcement agents forms the basis of this analysis of how the United States government has dealt with drug-related corruption in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Abstract
The interviews focused on how DEA agents operate abroad, what obstacles they encounter, how they deal with them, and how police in other countries enforce their own drug laws. Findings showed that DEA does not aim to eradicate drug-related corruption overseas. Instead, it aims to immobilize drug traffickers and their organizations by finding and arresting individuals engaged in crime, gathering the evidence necessary to indict and convict them, and imprisoning them. DEA agents view corruption as a hindrance to be circumvented rather than a problem to be addressed directly. The ability of the DEA to deal with foreign corruption is influenced strongly by the nature and scope of the corruption, particularly the extent to which top officials condone or tolerate it. Customs officials are generally regarded as the most corruptible; the military the least corruptible in most countries. DEA agents must rely on local agents for most tasks, regardless of whether or not the local agent is honest. The creation of elite drug enforcement units composed of local police has been one of the most successful measures used by DEA. However, lack of funding and other factors have contributed to corruption in some of these units. Notes.