NCJ Number
123547
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 57 Issue: 5 Dated: (May 1990) Pages: 50-52
Date Published
1990
Length
3 pages
Annotation
The trend in drug law enforcement in the 1980s naturally moved toward undercover buys and complex investigations, but the emergence of crack returned the focus to street enforcement.
Abstract
The trend reflected a general attitude of tolerance toward small possessions and was a necessary response to an ever-increasing court caseload. In response to community pleas, the crack task force of the Denver (Colo.) Police Department has used the search warrant with unprecedented frequency -- 670 since its creation in October 1987. Success required streamlining of the process, cooperation, protection of the confidentiality of informants except under rare circumstances which demand revelation, technical expertise in writing the warrants, an on-call system for judges, and use of a tactical team for making immediate entries.