Organizational Approaches to Drug Law Enforcement by Local Police Departments in the United States: Specialized Drug Units and Participation in Multi-Agency Drug Task Forces

• DOI: 10.3818/JRP.11.2009.45
• Date: 01 December 2009
• Author: Robert M. Lombardo,David E. Olson
• Published date: 01 December 2009
• Subject Matter: Article

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Organizational Approaches to Drug Law

Enforcement by Local Police Departments in

the United States: Specialized Drug Units and

Participation in Multi-Agency Drug Task Forces

Robert M. Lombardo

David E. Olson

Loyola University, Chicago

* Abstract

This paper examines the factors associated with the decision of local police depart-

ments in the United States to operate specialized drug units or to participate in multi-

jurisdictional drug task forces. Combining data from the Law Enforcement Manage-

ment and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) Survey, the 2000 Census, and the Uni-

form Crime Report, we use both bivariate and multivariate methods to conduct the

analysis. The f‌indings indicate that county-level agencies, those with other formalized

drug control efforts, high levels of violent crime, high degrees of task specialization

and formalization, and high proportions of the resident population accounted for by

renters were more likely to operate drug units, participate in multi-agency drug task

forces, and allocate more off‌icers per capita to these efforts.

This article is based on a paper prepared for the annual meeting of the American Society of

Criminology, St. Louis, Missouri, November 12, 2008.

JUSTICE RESEARCH AND POLICY, Vol. 11, 2009

© 2009 Justice Research and Statistics Association

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Beginning in the mid-1980s with the passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986

and 1988, the United States dedicated unprecedented resources to the control of

illicit drug use, sales, and distribution. This new emphasis resulted in a dramatic

increase in arrests for drug law violations, with the number of arrests for drug

crimes almost doubling between 1985 and 1995, jumping from approximately

800,000 to almost 1.5 million (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2005). By 2006, the

annual number of arrests for drug law violations in the United States rose even

further, exceeding 1.8 million (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2007). The Off‌ice

of National Drug Control Policy (2004, p. vi) estimates that the societal costs of

drug abuse exceeded $180.9 billion in 2002, with nearly $9 billion of these costs

being borne by law enforcement agencies.

While most agree that controlling the drug problem requires involving the

public health and educational systems, the criminal justice system is often the f‌irst

to respond to emerging drug problems. How law enforcement agencies target drug

law violations and drug markets varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and can

include everything from preventative efforts, such as the Drug Abuse Resistance

Education program (DARE), to long-term, organized, and focused drug investiga-

tions involving specialized drug units within police departments and/or participa-

tion in multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. The goal of this research is to under-

stand why local law enforcement agencies may operate their own specialized drug

unit and/or participate in a multi-agency drug task force.

Drug control efforts are typically categorized as either demand reduction or

supply reduction strategies. Demand reduction strategies aim at preventing the use

of drugs through education and treatment, or deterrence through the risk of arrest

and prosecution. Supply reduction strategies target the availability of drugs and

involve a wide range of activities, including crop eradication, border interdiction,

and street-level enforcement. The law enforcement response is typically hierar-

chical. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of

Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Homeland Security investigate inter-

national and interstate traff‌icking rings, while state and local police departments

typically interrupt the supply of drugs within states and at the street level. This hi-

erarchical response has led many police departments to form specialized drug units

to target mid-level drug wholesalers and dealers, many of whom would otherwise

fall through the cracks because of the difference between federal practices and the

street-level focus of uniformed law enforcement (Olson, 2005, p. 183).

Specialized police drug enforcement efforts typically take two forms: full-time

specialized drug enforcement units within local police departments and participa-

tion in multi-agency drug task forces. In general, local law enforcement agency drug

units limit their drug enforcement efforts to their specif‌ic geographic jurisdiction and

carry out more sophisticated investigations than traditional patrol strategies involv-

ing on-view arrests. Multi-agency task forces also tend to carry out more sophisti-

cated investigations and more targeted drug enforcement efforts, but carry out their

investigative work across multiple participating jurisdictions. Despite the potential