Sacha Rombouts

Drug Law Enforcement A Review of the Evaluation Literature

This article describes the results of a systematic review of drug law enforcement evaluations. The authors describe the search procedures and document the results in five main categories: international/national interventions (e.g., interdiction and drug seizure), reactive/ directed interventions (e.g., crackdowns, raids, buy-busts, saturation patrol, etc.), proactive/ partnership interventions (e.g., third-party policing, problem-oriented policing, community policing, drug nuisance abatement, etc.), individualized interventions (e.g., arrest referral and diversion), or interventions that used a combination of reactive/directed and proactive/ partnership strategies. Results indicate that proactive interventions involving partnerships between the police and third parties and/or community entities appear to be more effective at reducing both drug and nondrug problems in drug problem places than are reactive/ directed approaches. But the general quality of research in drug law enforcement is poor, the range of interventions that have been evaluated is limited, and more high-quality research is needed across a greater variety of drug interventions.

School-Based Drug Prevention Programs: A Review of What Works

Abstract This article examines the effectiveness of school-based drug prevention programs in preventing illicit drug use. Our article reports the results of a systematic review of the evaluation literature to answer three fundamental questions: (1) do school-based drug prevention programs reduce rates of illicit drug use? (2) what features are characteristic of effective programs? and (3) do these effective program characteristics differ from those identified as effective in reviews of school-based drug prevention of licit substance use (such as alcohol and tobacco)? Using systematic review and meta-analytic techniques, we identify the characteristics of school-based drug prevention programs that have a significant and beneficial impact on ameliorating illicit substance use (i.e., narcotics) among young people. Successful intervention programs typically involve high levels of interactivity, time-intensity, and universal approaches that are delivered in the middle school years. These program characteristics aligned with many of the effective program elements found in previous reviews exploring the impact of school-based drug prevention on licit drug use. Contrary to these past reviews, however, our analysis suggests that the inclusion of booster sessions and multifaceted drug prevention programs have little impact on preventing illicit drug use among school-aged children. Limitations of the current review and policy implications are discussed.

The impact of COMPSTAT on reported crime in Queensland

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of Queensland Police Services version of COMPSTAT, known as “Operational Performance Reviews” (OPRs), on reported crime.Design/methodology/approach – The paper employed interrupted time series analytic techniques to examine the impact of OPRs on various categories of reported crime in Queensland. The analyses assessed the extent to which OPRs were associated with crime reductions across the 29 police districts in Queensland.Findings – The introduction of OPRs was found to be associated with a significant decrease in the total number of reported offences in Queensland. OPRs were found to have their strongest effect on reported unlawful entries into dwellings and unlawful entries into other properties. The overall finding was that OPRs appeared to be a cost‐effective approach to controlling crime, resulting in an overall saving of AUD

Street-level drug law enforcement: A meta-analytic review.

1,162,175.Practical implications – The current study suggests that COMPSTAT generally – and Queenslands OPRs in...