NCJ Number
89178
Date Published
1981
Length
25 pages
Annotation
The primary police function with respect to drug offenders is the repressive one of law enforcement. Beyond that, their proximity to the drug scene offers opportunities for preventive involvement in coordination with other agencies and social institutions.
Abstract
Police officers can be the initiators, supporters, and significant contributors to antidrug campaigns both unofficially as individuals or through formal police participation. Preventive effects emanate from their control function, through raids and patrolling of locales where illicit activity takes place. Further, police prevention can be enhanced by intradepartmental information exchange and training programs in drug awareness and detection for all officers. Externally, police should coordinate information exchanges with various institutions including courts, foreign resident bureaus, business and consumer agencies, educational institutions, the health administration, welfare and juvenile agencies, treatment institutions, medical and pharmaceutical professionals, social organizations, and community entrepreneurs such as innkeepers. The police should also establish favorable relationships with the media to promote public antidrug education. Such involvement requires pertinent administrative and personnel adjustments in the police force, including resource allocation and maintenance of current data for information exchange. Despite this potential, limitations to police prevention activities exist in the form of professional security requirements, data security laws, the confidentiality between social and treatment institutions and their clients, and personal capacity for extracurricular involvement by individuals already committed to a stressful profession. No references are given.