Operation Pressure Point: The Disruption of Street-Level Drug Trade on New York's Lower East Side

• NCJ Number: 108749
• Author(s): L Zimmer
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 26 pages
• Corporate Author: New York University School of Law
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services; New York University School of Law
• Publication Type: Program Description (Model)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Occasional Papers; 2

Annotation

This paper describes and analyzes the New York City Police Department's successful effort to disrupt blatant street-level drug trafficking on the Lower East Side in 1984 through Operation Pressure Point (OPP).

Abstract

Information sources for this analysis included police reports, personal observation, and interviews with community members, drug users, drug treatment personnel, police administrators, and patrol officers. The paper describes the emergence of the Lower East Side as an attractive market for drug buyers, as well as citizen and political pressures which spurred the police to launch OPP. A massive police presence substantially increased the risk of arrest for drug buyers and sellers, who previously had been immune. OPP also sought severe sentences for those arrested. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York agreed to process all arrests made one day each week through the Federal Court system where penalties for drug offenses are more severe. The police also used harassment tactics on dealers, raised the cost of arrests by eliminating the Desk Appearance Ticket, and expanded their work with community groups. OPP changed how drugs are marketed on the Lower East Side and substantially decreased the volume of drug traffic. The paper discusses OPP's impact on the community and dilemmas it posed for the police. Maps, tables, 31 footnotes, and approximately 30 references.