NCJ Number
197717
Date Published
January 2003
Length
169 pages
Annotation
This technical report presents a method for examining the accomplishments of two major drug enforcement programs: the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program.
Abstract
The mission of the HIDTA program is to eliminate or reduce drug trafficking and its harmful consequences in critical regions of the United States. The mission of the OCDETF program is to disrupt and dismantle major drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and related criminal enterprises. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the U.S. Department of Justice sponsored the development of the HIDTA/OCDETF Performance Monitoring and Management System profiled in this report. The project involved two major tasks: the identification of law-enforcement program measures specifically relevant to HIDTA and OCDETF and the recommendation of a method for implementing a management reporting system for the two programs. The key elements of the performance monitoring and management system will provide information on how the program is operating; determine whether, and to what extent, program objectives are being achieved; and identify successes and failures to produce program outcomes for use in managing and redesigning program operations. This report presents a model of each program to illustrate how the HIDTA and OCDETF programs work to achieve their intended objectives. Each model starts with desired program changes, presents the inputs or resources of the program, and shows how the program works through planned activities or processes to produce outputs, outcomes, and impacts. After the program is defined through the program model, the next step is to select measures of performance. A variety of data sources should be identified and developed to measure the performance of the HIDTA and OCDETF programs. The proposed measures for the two programs focus on outcomes and impacts. The section of the report on the implementation of the performance monitoring and management system addresses the prioritization of the outcomes to measure; the specification of measures and data sources; the pilot-testing of the system; and the preparation of a detailed work plan, which will focus on introducing the outcome measures for the two programs on a gradual basis, integrating the new measures into existing reporting systems, and outlining training and technical assistance that will be required to support a full-scale adoption of the system by both programs. The work plan will include procedures that task forces and grantees can use to estimate the cost of implementing the performance monitoring and management system. 6 exhibits, 24 references, a 238-item annotated bibliography, and appended HIDTA program elements, OCDETF program elements, and legislative authority for HIDTA and OCDETF