Proactive Policing Against Street-Level Drug Trafficking (From Drugs, Crime, and Justice: Contemporary Perspectives, P 249-274, 1997, Larry K Gaines and Peter B Kraska, eds. -- See NCJ-165819)

• NCJ Number: 165831
• Author(s): L Zimmer
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

A project known as Operation Pressure Point (OPP) was initiated by the New York City Police Department to disrupt drug trafficking on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Abstract

Data were obtained from police reports and documents; observations of OPP patrols in 1985; and open-ended interviews with community members, drug users, drug treatment personnel, police administrators, and police officers. OPP forces moved into the Lower East Side with strength and confidence, quickly establishing an imposing police presence in the community. These forces primarily included uniformed patrol officers who worked the streets mostly on foot, dispersing crowds, giving out parking tickets, conducting searches, and making arrests. OPP substantially increased the risk of arrest for drug buyers and drug sellers. Even when unable to make arrests, OPP forces tried to discourage drug involvement by acting as a "judicial punitive body." The combination of law enforcement and community-oriented strategies incorporated in OPP changed how drugs were marketed and also decreased the volume of drug trafficking and drug- related crime. 71 references, 43 notes, and 1 table