NCJ Number
183364
Date Published
June 2000
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This study reports on case studies of partnerships between law enforcement agencies and drug courts in four California counties: Butte County, Alameda County, Orange County, and San Bernardino County.
Abstract
The format of the report on each county addresses county demographics, county drug enforcement, a brief description of the drug court program, an overview of the drug court/law enforcement partnership, and lessons learned from each program. Findings show that the most active law enforcement partners were the local police department, the sheriff's department, and the probation department. Every police department that worked with the drug courts was involved in community policing. Perhaps the single most important finding was that a drug court/law enforcement partnership can serve law enforcement goals as well as drug court goals. Drug court/law enforcement "linkages" that involved information transfers between the court and various law enforcement agencies yielded expedited warrants and the transfer of drug court data to police databases. The report describes the variety of ways in which drug court/law enforcement partnerships can serve community-oriented and problem solving policing objectives, as well as how such partnerships (especially those that make it possible for law enforcement officers to participate regularly in court and regularly undertake home visits) benefit drug court programs. The report advises that drug court programs must be careful to work effectively with community-oriented policing agencies so as to mutually benefit both. It also advises that law enforcement agencies and pro-law enforcement members of the drug court team must not insist that the drug court program give top priority to law enforcement goals. 10 tables and 12 references