NCJ Number
75146
Journal
California Law Enforcement Journal Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: (1979) Pages: 199-204
Date Published
1979
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes the impact of narcotic task force activities on property crime, as revealed in a study of five California counties, including the Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, and Tulare.
Abstract
The impact findings were produced in a larger study of task force effectiveness which was conducted between April 1978 and January 1979. The task forces aimed to reduce the trafficking and availability of illegal narcotics, develop an operational narcotics intelligence network, increase the quality of arrests, improve the arrest-conviction ratio, and influence crimes related to the sale and use of narcotics and restricted drugs. Since most law enforcement officials assumed that drug users maintain their habits by committing burglaries and other profit crimes, the study analyzed the relationship between narcotic arrests and reported burglaries. The results supported the assumption. Three of the counties experienced a high correlation between an increase in arrests and a decrease in reported burglaries. In one county, for example, 974 of the 1,149 offenders arrested had prior arrests; of these, 80 percent had already been arrested for burglary, while 44 percent had been previously arrested for receiving stolen property. For all five counties, the probability that an increase in narcotics arrests would lead to a decrease in burglary arrests was determined to be 67 percent. A public survey on the relationship of drug and narcotic activity to various crimes also revealed that 90.9 percent felt a strong relation existed between such activity and burglary. Data tables and footnotes are included.