NCJ Number
134097
Date Published
1991
Length
112 pages
Annotation
This publication describes techniques that have been used successfully to eradicate street drug markets; aggressive community action is identified as the most important determinant of local efforts to rid neighborhoods of drugs.
Abstract
Citizens can organize to patrol their streets and close down disruptive sites. Community action alone, however, is rarely enough to drive an entrenched drug market out of a residential community. The police, the legislature, and the courts must also do their part. In practice, this means that State and local leaders must push for the adoption of drug eradication techniques that have proven effective in other communities across the United States. Most drug enforcement techniques embrace three tactical objectives: broadcast community intolerance of drugs and disorders, deny space to drug dealers and customers, and remove the sense of impunity commonly felt by the illegal drug trade. Driving drug dealers out of a neighborhood and keeping them away usually requires more than interrupting an existing drug market through a program of accelerated arrests. In most cases, enforcement-only tactics result in the return of drug dealers as soon as the police leave an area. To prevent this return, community activists need to broadcast a strong sense of community intolerance for drug activity. Because drug sellers and buyers need access to and control of marketing space, communities can discourage flagrant drug markets from operating in their neighborhoods by denying dealers and customers access to space. Further, open air drug markets survive only in neighborhoods where a combination of police inefficiency and a sense of community powerlessness gives drug dealers and customers a high degree of impunity. Specific techniques to accomplish the preceding tactical objectives are detailed. An appendix provides additional information on anti-drug-market laws and related publications. References and photographs