NCJ Number
191249
Date Published
July 2001
Length
80 pages
Annotation
This report presents the evaluation methodology and findings for Wilmington's (Delaware) Operation Weed & Seed program, a Federal initiative to reduce illicit drugs and crimes in distressed communities through the use of increased narcotics enforcement, community policing, social programs, and neighborhood restoration efforts.
Abstract
Wilmington was selected as a pilot site for Operation Weed & Seed in 1992 and has received Federal funds annually to implement Operation Weed & Seed activities in four neighborhoods. The focus of this year's report is on crime-reduction strategies undertaken by the Wilmington Police Department in conjunction with Federal law enforcement agencies and their impact on reported crime and arrests in the Operation Weed & Seed area and other Wilmington neighborhoods. New in this year's report is a detailed overview of some of the major problems and issues facing the Operation Weed & Seed neighborhoods as identified by community residents, one of the most important being the issue of ex-offenders re-entering the community upon release from incarceration. In 1998, 1999, and 2000, Wilmington's Operation Weed & Seed effort began to focus more on economic development and neighborhood restoration. In keeping with this change in emphasis, this year's evaluation report looks at existing and proposed business and residential development in the area; it includes the results of an Operation Weed & Seed land-use survey conducted in August 2000 that details areas with the most vacant properties and blight and their proximity to illicit drug "hot spots." This report includes a summary of intensive interviews conducted in October 2000 with Wilmington Police Department officials, residents of the Operation Weed & Seed area, and other key Operation Weed & Seed participants. This year's interviews revealed that a majority of the participants were highly critical and dissatisfied with the coordination of community involvement, police activities, and programming funded by Operation Weed & Seed. The final section of this report summarizes each community "seeding" program established from July 1992 to December 2000. Extensive tables and figures and 13 references