Titre : | Drug enforcement in an age of austerity. Key findings from a survey of police forces in England |
Auteurs : | H. BECK |
Type de document : | Rapport |
Editeur : | London : UKDPC, 2011 |
ISBN/ISSN/EAN : | 978-1-906246-33-4 |
Format : | 18 p. / ann., tabl. |
Langues: | Anglais |
Discipline : | LOI (Loi et son application / Law enforcement) |
Mots-clés : |
Thésaurus géographique ROYAUME-UNIThésaurus mots-clés REPRESSION ; ENQUETE ; POLICE ; QUESTIONNAIRE ; PRATIQUE PROFESSIONNELLE ; FINANCEMENT ; EVOLUTION ; LUTTE |
Résumé : |
This briefing describes the key findings from a survey conducted by the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), with support from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), and a workshop for police officers working in the field of drug enforcement which explored the implications of the survey findings. This research forms part of UKDPC’s ‘Localism and Austerity’ project. The project aims to capture information on the way in which action to tackle the problems associated with illicit drugs might be changing in the current context of decreasing expenditure and increasing localism. More information on this project is available at: http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/current.shtml#localism.
Police forces, like many other organisations and agencies, are experiencing cuts to their budget. Alongside this are changes to the way in which policing priorities and direction will be set with responsibility passing to the proposed elected Police and Crime Commissioners. To identify different perspectives on what change is occurring at local level and the impact this may have on drug-related policing activities, a questionnaire was distributed to all English forces and Basic Command Units (BCUs). In all, 74% of forces, 25% of BCUs and 9 other units responded. The key findings were: 1. Drug-related policing expenditure and activity is expected to decrease and there is a perception that it is faring worse than other police activities. 2. Proactive work related to the detection of drug supply is expected to decrease. Activities such as covert surveillance, test purchasing and other intelligence gathering work were most often mentioned as likely to decrease. This may have an impact on the police's ability to monitor the drug problem in their area and to contribute to broader initiatives such as Street Level Up. 3. Those drug-related activities that appear likely to increase are ones, such as asset forfeiture, that could contribute to income. 4. Uncertainty about partner agencies is high and less partnership working and work with community groups is expected. This is of concern given the evidence of the importance of partnership working and community engagement for effective drug-related policing. The findings of this survey suggest that the continuing pressures to save money and identify efficiencies may be leading to a greater focus on policing the most visible and pressing issues in the short term. If this is at the expense of activities of long term and 'deeper' benefit, it might have a negative impact on other key policy initiatives. Difficult decisions about priorities will have to be made. Views will differ, so basing decisions on the evidence about impact and effectiveness is increasingly important. There needs to be an explicit evaluation of which drug markets to tackle and in what way they should be policed to deliver sustainable and real change for communities. These discussions, however, need to include consideration of the knock-on effects of changes. This will be a challenge for the new Police and Crime Commissioners. It will be essential that those standing for office are aware of the evidence of the effectiveness of different enforcement interventions. |
Domaine : | Drogues illicites / Illicit drugs |
Affiliation : | United Kingdom |
Lien : | http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/resources/Drug_related_enforcement.pdf |
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