OAKLAND NARCOTICS STRATEGY Recommendation to the Chief

Mark Kleiman

9/14/99

OBJECTIVE: Reduce Part I crime and improve neighborhood quality of life by enforcement against selected drug-market locations, individuals, and organizations. UNDERLYING IDEA: Strategic interaction

Drug sellers and buyers react to moves made by OPD, and OPD reacts to the behavior of drug buyers and sellers. Every choice made by OPD should take into account the likely reactions of drug market participants, and should attempt to create incentives for them to behave as we want them to behave, with respect to location, flagrancy, disorder, violence, and the use of juveniles as accomplices. BASIC STRATEGY CONCEPT: Sequential elimination of drug hot spots on the "Cleaning It and Meaning It" principle

Any drug spot can be cleaned up temporarily by the application of sufficient enforcement pressure. But the same forces that led to the existence of the spot before the enforcement action will tend to revive dealing activity at that spot once the enforcement pressure is removed. Only permanent changes, either in the environmental conditions that fostered drug dealing at that location or in the expectations of drug market participants about their prospects of successfully executing transactions at that location, will bring lasting success. The New York City Transit Authority conquered its subway-graffitti problem with a strategy called" cleaning it and meaning it." Certain cars were declared" clean cars." The Authority committed that those cars would never start a shift with any graffitti still on them. Graffitti-posters soon learned that it was not worth their while to "tag" those cars, since their handiwork would never appear in public. Gradually, the number of clean cars was expanded to include the entire fleet. The proposed approach to the problem of open narcotics dealing in Oakland is analogous: •

Choose a number of dealing locations and commit publicly to shutting them down and never allowing them to reopen.

• • •

Apply a combination of enforcement, environmental, and community-based pressures to force those markets out of existence. Move attention to fresh locations as activity diminishes at previous ones. Conduct ongoing monitoring to detect the first signs of resurgence, and be prepared to move aggressively against any detected narcotics activity in "clean" locations.

TARGET SELECTION:

The first three targets, one in each patrol area, should be chosen according to the following criteria: • • • •

Currently a "hot spot" as measured by citizen and police opinion, backed by operating data. On the "hot spot" list as developed in 1989. The site of recent homicide or aggravated assault believed to be linked to narcotics activity. Community support for operation (to be secured after selection but before rollout; if support lacking, go to fallback location).

At least two backup targets should be chosen in each area, but any serious future violence at an identified hot spot should be sufficient to move it to the top of the priority list. Narcotics market participants should be made aware of this rule: violence is bad for business. This will create a disincentive for the violence that might otherwise result as dealers from those locations shut down first attempt to move to neighboring areas. TACTICS

Tactics should be custom-designed for each selected area, based on information from officers, citizens, and arrestees about the style of dealing at that location. Roles for other city agencies and for citizen groups should be outlined, and plans made for maintenance activity once the initial cleanup is complete. Tactical approach should be discussed with community leadership before rollout. ARRESTEE DEBRIEFING

None of the Department's current operating data provide reliable information about where offenders buy their drugs, an important factor in deciding which markets to shut if the overriding goal is reduction in Part I crime. The best way to find out is to ask offenders as they are arrested. Moreover, arrestees have valuable tactical information about dealing styles, about the identities and organizational relationships among dealers, and about the use of violence by dealers. To capture this data, all arrestees should go through a debriefing asking questions about narcotics activity. Even those who are not, or who do not wish to admit to

being, buyers can still supply information. Naturally, they should be promised confidentiality and impunity for anything they say. Interviews should be conducted either by patrol officers or by CID. Questions to ask might include: Where do youl people you know buy primarily? Do you have a secondary buy location? Where? Who do you buy from? (Name, nickname, demographics) Always the same person? How does the buy work? Where do you go? Who do you talk to? What do you say? Who gets the money? Who holds the drugs? Can anyone buy, or do you have to know someone? In the last month, has there been a time when you had money and wanted drugs but couldn't score at your primary location? [Note: This last question is a sensitive measure of supply control effectiveness.]

MONITORING

Lack of work to do by officers assigned to a spot will be the best short-term measure of the decline of narcotics activity at that spot. Location-specific objective measures of narcotics activity and its impact (e.g. traffic flows in drive-through markets) as well as surveys of residents should be used to track lasting improvements. Once an area is no longer a focus of special enforcement pressure, the traditional measures of narcotics-related calls for service and hot line calls will regain their usefulness, and can be used as early warnings of renewed illicit activity. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Citizen support is essential operationally as well as in public-relations terms. Residents have valuable information, and persuading them to provide it on a timely basis will enable a wide range of tactical moves. Their activity is especially important in the maintenance phase. Securing that support requires consultation, not merely notification, with community leaders in advance of the announcement that a given spot is on the" clean" list. Consideration should be given to inviting in a professional community anti-drug organizer.

ANNOUNCEMENT STRATEGY Arresting key dealers and raiding important locations lends substance to the designation of a location as a clean zone./1 Undercover and surveillance activity to enable arrests and searches needs to go on before a location is announced. But there is also value in making an announcement beforehand, to accomplish as much market disruption as possible at minimum cost. In any case, the need for community consultation and buy-in means that true strategic surprise is unavailable. One approach would be to use a week or two to make the needed buys, in parallel with community consultation efforts, then leaflet the area announcing that the spot will be closed to narcotics dealing forever as of a given date one more week in the future, then execute the arrests and searches on the announced date. /I

ACTION ITEMS AND TIMELINE

• Create map of drug hot spots as identified by citizens and officers with overlay of homicides and ADWs (9/17) • Select primary target spot in each patrol area, along with at least two back-up spots (9/24) • Develop list of dealers known to use violence or employ juveniles (9/24) • Begin debriefing arrestees (9/24) • Assign one sergeant and one civilian clerk for 90 days to support strategy development/ implementation/ monitoring activity (9/24) • Begin community consultation in primary and back-up areas (9/27). Explain city- wide attack on violence-using and juvenile-employing dealers as part of that consultation. • Begin buys in primary target areas and from target dealers (9/27) • Develop and implement database of arrestee-derived information and mechanism for feeding it back to area commands (10/5) • Develop operations plan for each primary area (10/5) Initial operation Identify manpower for 7-day, 16-hour coverage Use of other agencies, citizens Desired changes in environmental factors (traffic flow, etc.) Maintenance strategy • Develop monitoring strategy for each primary area (10/5) • Announce first three clean zones (10/12) • Execute arrests of target dealers (10/12) • Execute arrests and searches in primary target areas, begin focused enforcement (10/19) • Develop operations plan for back-up areas (10/26)

Draft MK 8/ 19/99

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NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY FOR OAKLAND

GOAL

Reduce the damage drug dealing does to Oakland neighborhoods and residents: •

Dealing-related violence

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Acquisitive crime to support drug habits

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Disorder and fear generated by dealing

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Crime, disorder, and fear generated by intoxicated behavior

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Damage to juveniles from involvement in dealing

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Substance abuse and consequent damage to individuals, their families, and the public health

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

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Break up flagrant street markets

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Discourage out-of-town buyers

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Selectively incapacitate and deter dealing organizations engaging in violence or employing juveniles

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Push user-offenders into treatment (or untreated abstinence) by reductions in drug availability and threat of arrest; incarcerate user / offenders with established patterns of frequent serious crime

STRATEGIC APPROACH: LOCATIONS

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Identification and characterization of "hot spots" using reports from officers, community members, and offenders

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Development of location-specific strategies based on identified characteristics and vulnerabilities of the markets • •

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Buyer-as well as seller-oriented tactics, including reverse stings, car seizures, etc. Use of publicity in advance of enforcement effort to start the process of scaring away buyers and sellers at minimum expense in arrests and court and incarceration time Non-enforcement actions (e.g. changes in traffic patterns) and enforcement of non-drug statutes and ordinances (e.g., against double-parking) designed to reduce the convenience of target locations as places to buy and sell drugs

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Selection of one or a few targets for early intervention

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Phased extension of the program to larger and larger numbers of target areas

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Controlled shift of resources to new targets as the flagrant dealing in each target area shrinks under enforcement/ community pressure, leaving behind a level of effort sufficient to prevent a resurgence and a monitoring process designed to provide early warning of any increase in market activity

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Development and implementation of site-specific monitoring and evaluation approaches

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Community involvement in identification, characterization, tactical development, and monitoring effort, along with community organization designed to foster citizen anti-drug efforts

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STRATEGIC APPROACH: INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS

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Identification of particular dealers, dealing organizations, and user/offenders posing particular threats to community safety: e.g., dealers and organizations known to use violence or intimidate witnesses; organizations known to employ juveniles; users with . established patterns of violence, persistent and serious property offending, or of extremely disorderly and threatening behavior. Bases of identification to include official records, informant reports, and opinions of police and community members

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Assign priorities to individuals and organizations

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Create individualized or categorical strategies and goals for identified individuals and organizations. Targets for individuals might include treatment entry, imposition and implementation of strict probation/parole conditions, or incarceration. Targets for organizations might include dismantlement or managed change in behavior

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Identify elements of OPD or other governmental and/ or non-profit agencies to execute elements of the chosen strategies

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Monitor activity and outcomes

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Engage community participation in defining criteria for target selection (not directly in selecting individual targets) and creating categorical strategies

RESOURCE PLANNING

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Resource requirements will start, and probably finish, at a level somewhat above those now available for drug enforcement

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Requirements will grow with the number of target areas, peak at a high level for a period of months, and then recede as the problem comes under control

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Detailed resource requirement estimates will grow from the tactical plans developed for each market

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Timing of successive phases will be determined empirically based on how long it takes to shrink activity in the early targets 30fS

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Mix of work by narcotics detectives, patrol officers, and Community Service Officers to be determined on a location-bylocation basis, growing out of the detailed tactical plans

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In each target market, the plan will be to start with overwhelming force (perhaps after a pre-publicity period designed to soften the target) and then back off as feasible without allowing a resurgence

ANCILLARY EFFORTS

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DEA MET (Mobile Enforcement Team) operation against identified high-violence dealing organizations

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ATF arrest and federal prosecution of identified high-violence dealers under Armed Narcotic Trafficker jurisdiction

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ATF Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative to address the problem of armed younger drug dealers and the system that arms them

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Arrest under 11550 H&S (Under the Influence of Narcotics) to reduce drug consumption and criminal activity by identified highcrime-rate drug consumers

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Encouragement of city, county, state, federal, and non-profit agencies to prepare drug the treatment system for anticipated influx of clients

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Encouragement of probation and parole agencies to impose drug testing and sanctions requirements on identified drug-using offenders. Sanctions must be small enough to be delivered consistently, but significant enough to change behavior

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Development/ expansion of programs aimed at the prevention of dealing and programs aimed at the rehabilitation of identified youthful dealers and users, tapping into the city's special funding for youth development

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Development and implementation of specific prevention strategy aimed at youthful heroin snorting

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Eliminate enforcement of needle possession law (Sec. 4149 B&P) to discourage needle-sharing and HIV transmission

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IDENTIFICATION, CHARACTERIZATION, MONITORING AND EvALUATION

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Start with free-form descriptions from officers and community members of "hot spot" locations and times as they identify them, and their observations supporting that identification

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Develop checklist forms based on early free-form responses

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Interview known drug market participants (arrested buyers and sellers, 11550 arrestees, arrested acquisitive-crime offenders known to be supporting habits) both to identify locations and to characterize dealing styles and practices at already-identified hot spots

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Ask market participants, narcotics detectives, beat officers, and CSO's for information about dealing styles and practices at identified hot-spot locations. When interviewing participants, no pressure to prove names; merely want to find out about market dynamics

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Ask market participants, officers, and residents to identify dealers, organizations, or locations especially associated with violence or the use of juveniles, and users known to be significant propertycrime offenders

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From these responses, prepare target lists of locations, organizations, and individuals

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For each identified hot spot, develop a location-specific tactical and monitoring approach. Observations used to support identification of hot spots should be tracked numerically over time to validate or modify tactics and to identify any resurgence

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Assign priority rankings and tactical approaches to individual and organizational targets. Track activities aimed at them, either as part of location-specific operations or independently, and whether by OPD or by others. Keep counts of targets immobilized. Develop tracking system that will warn when persons on the list are to be released from incarceration or residential treatment. Plan and execute "re-entry" strategies.

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