Cops, drugs and the community: establishing consultative harm reduction structures in two Western Australian locations

In Australia a police project incorporating four parallel trials was established to test a new model of illicit drug law enforcement, which gives greater emphasis to harm reduction at the community level. The project was based on a community-policing model developed in the United Kingdom and involve...

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Main Authors: Midford, Richard, Acres, J., Lenton, Simon, Loxley, Wendy, Boots, K.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2002
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10631
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author Midford, Richard
Acres, J.
Lenton, Simon
Loxley, Wendy
Boots, K.
author_facet Midford, Richard
Acres, J.
Lenton, Simon
Loxley, Wendy
Boots, K.
author_sort Midford, Richard
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description In Australia a police project incorporating four parallel trials was established to test a new model of illicit drug law enforcement, which gives greater emphasis to harm reduction at the community level. The project was based on a community-policing model developed in the United Kingdom and involved establishing a community based consultation structure comprising an implementation oriented Drug Action Team (DAT) and support oriented Drug Reference Group (DRG). Two of the trials operated in Western Australia: one in Geraldton, a small regional city; and the other in Mirrabooka, a large, diverse, metropolitan region within Perth. The project officers were faced with a number of challenges and had to develop strategies to overcome these. One of the important issues was the effect of continual changes in membership of DATs, and consequent fluctuating levels of enthusiasm and commitment. The size and composition of the DATs also had an impact on how they operated. Other issues included the management of different agency agendas and recognition that the project would only operate for a limited time. How the project officers dealt with these issues in their development of the DAT/DRG model and how the two trial sites incorporated harm reduction into illicit drug policing are presented and discussed.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-106312017-09-13T14:53:52Z Cops, drugs and the community: establishing consultative harm reduction structures in two Western Australian locations Midford, Richard Acres, J. Lenton, Simon Loxley, Wendy Boots, K. drug - health aspects - legal aspects - crime - social aspects - harm reduction - policy - community policing In Australia a police project incorporating four parallel trials was established to test a new model of illicit drug law enforcement, which gives greater emphasis to harm reduction at the community level. The project was based on a community-policing model developed in the United Kingdom and involved establishing a community based consultation structure comprising an implementation oriented Drug Action Team (DAT) and support oriented Drug Reference Group (DRG). Two of the trials operated in Western Australia: one in Geraldton, a small regional city; and the other in Mirrabooka, a large, diverse, metropolitan region within Perth. The project officers were faced with a number of challenges and had to develop strategies to overcome these. One of the important issues was the effect of continual changes in membership of DATs, and consequent fluctuating levels of enthusiasm and commitment. The size and composition of the DATs also had an impact on how they operated. Other issues included the management of different agency agendas and recognition that the project would only operate for a limited time. How the project officers dealt with these issues in their development of the DAT/DRG model and how the two trial sites incorporated harm reduction into illicit drug policing are presented and discussed. 2002 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10631 10.1016/S0955-3959(02)00031-2 fulltext
spellingShingle drug - health aspects - legal aspects - crime - social aspects - harm reduction - policy - community policing
Midford, Richard
Acres, J.
Lenton, Simon
Loxley, Wendy
Boots, K.
Cops, drugs and the community: establishing consultative harm reduction structures in two Western Australian locations
title Cops, drugs and the community: establishing consultative harm reduction structures in two Western Australian locations
title_full Cops, drugs and the community: establishing consultative harm reduction structures in two Western Australian locations
title_fullStr Cops, drugs and the community: establishing consultative harm reduction structures in two Western Australian locations
title_full_unstemmed Cops, drugs and the community: establishing consultative harm reduction structures in two Western Australian locations
title_short Cops, drugs and the community: establishing consultative harm reduction structures in two Western Australian locations
title_sort cops, drugs and the community: establishing consultative harm reduction structures in two western australian locations
topic drug - health aspects - legal aspects - crime - social aspects - harm reduction - policy - community policing
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10631