NCJ Number
131137
Date Published
1990
Length
7 pages
Annotation
An evaluation of the East Side Wilmington (Delaware) Anti-Drug Abuse Program will be conducted to determine whether this program meets its objective of eliminating illegal drug use by convincing residents that drug abuse is a neighborhood, as well as an individual, problem. The program employs three strategies for achieving its goal: enhanced community policing, expanded community organization, and increased social services to assist families to live drug free lives.
Abstract
The program has three distinct phases: pre-1988, when the neighborhood had normal city police patrols, the current phase with increased police manpower, and the post-phase in which police manpower levels will return to normal and the social solutions will be fully tested. Substantive documents and operational information will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the three strategies through a pre/during/post research design. Interaction effects will also be measured. The support of the East Side Substance Abuse Committee and the geographic dimensions of East Side Wilmington make data collection and evaluation possible. The East Side and other Wilmington police district data on drug-related arrests will be compared to determine if the incidence of these crimes is declining or if there has been displacement to other parts of the city. Finally, there will be periodic surveys of citizen opinion and attitudes conducted by the East Side Wilmington Substance Abuse Committee. 2 figures