NCJ Number
234156
Date Published
2009
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This report presents the results of an evaluation conducted by Project Safe Neighborhoods and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department of the city's initiative to eliminate its open-air drug market.
Abstract
The evaluation found that in the month following the intervention, the area targeted by the initiative saw a statistically significant and sustained decrease in property crimes per month (2.5), a 55 percent decrease in monthly narcotics offenses, a 36.8 percent decrease in drug equipment violations, and a significant reduction (18.1 percent decrease) in calls for police assistance per month. In addition, while areas next to the targeted area saw similar statistically significant and sustained decreases in drug-related offenses and calls for police service, areas in the remainder of the city saw changes that were neither substantive nor statistically significant. These findings indicate that Nashville's initiative to eliminate open-air drug markets in targeted areas was successful in creating a major and sustained decline in serious and drug-related offenses as well as a significant decline in police calls for service. The evaluation of Nashville's open-air drug market initiative was conducted by Project Safe Neighborhoods and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department using a systematic time series analysis that compared trends in violent, property, and drug-related crime as well as call for police assistance for the month prior to and the month after the intervention. The data from a 5-year period was examined for the targeted area, adjoining or contiguous areas, and for the remainder of the county. The positive findings from this evaluation have important implications for other localities across the country that wish to implement similar programs. Tables, figures, and references