NCJ Number
227182
Editor(s)
Deborah Spence
Date Published
June 2009
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This issue reports on mortgage fraud investigations in Miami-Dade County, FL; the Salt Lake City Meth and Drug Initiative; methamphetamine countermeasures in Arizona; new developments in crime analysis in patrol work; and an update on the Hiring Recovery Program administered by the Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS).
Abstract
The Miami-Dade Police Department implemented Mayor Carlos Alvarez's Mortgage Fraud Task Force in September 2007. This public/private partnership uses a comprehensive approach that blends legislative change, prevention, enforcement, regulation, and prosecution in order to reduce mortgage fraud and prevent the victimization of individuals and businesses. The Salt Lake City Meth and Drug Initiative, which began just over 10 years ago, has received national acclaim as a best-practice program for fighting meth use. Interviews with the grant manager and the project coordinator for the program view the program's most significant achievements as the partnerships among the police and treatment providers and the prevention campaign that featured survivor stories and family portraits of former meth users. Arizona is also focusing on combating methamphetamine trafficking and abuse. With funding support from the COPS Office and other Federal agencies, the principles of Strategic Application International (SAI) have facilitated 22 Governor's Summits on Methamphetamine. SAI's work with Arizona marked a shift in strategy from a purely summit model of planning to a model that requires SAI to work closely with the State, providing facilitation and technical assistance following the summit. On another front, the COPS Office and the Police Executive Research Forum held five focus group meetings in January 2009 to discuss the current use of crime analysis for patrol. The update on the Hiring Recovery Program reports that earlier this year $1 billion was appropriated through a competitive grant program designed to create or save State, local, and tribal law enforcement jobs.