NCJ Number
180906
Journal
Drug and Alcohol Review Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: December 1999 Pages: 477-486
Date Published
December 1999
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This analysis of zero-tolerance policing (ZTP) summarizes the literature on the issue, the implementation of ZTP with respect to illicit drug markets in New York City and Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, considers alternative approaches to policing as entailed in harm reduction models, and discusses implications for Australia.
Abstract
ZTP is a misleading term that actually refers to three related policing strategies. One strategy focuses on disorder and street offenses, the second focuses on improving quality of life, and the third emphasizes proactive operations based on risk assessment techniques. Data from New York City indicate that the use of ZTP is irrelevant to the success or failure of drug law enforcement and that the contribution of ZTP to crime reduction and improvements in the quality of life in New York City has been exaggerated. In addition, ZTP's possible short-term benefits occur at the cost of substantial counterproductive effects in the form of harm to public health, community safety, and police-community relations. More broadly, ZTP threatens to undermine advances promised by the shift towards harm minimization; this shift provides the best prospects for realistic, pragmatic drug policy. Law enforcement cannot successfully suppress illegal drug use and sale, but it may be able to regulate, control, and shape them. Therefore, police should use policies that involve interagency and community initiatives in problem solving and should not use ZTP. 48 references