Skip to start of content

Home → Publications → Reports → Trends and issues → A framework for measuring the performance of drug law enforcement

A framework for measuring the performance of drug law enforcement

Abstract

Drug law enforcement (DLE) agencies in Australia and overseas have used drug seizure and arrest data to measure the effectiveness of their work performance for many years. Such measures are simple, visible and well-understood measures of law enforcement effort. However, they are frequently ambiguous measures of law enforcement performances as they essentially demonstrate the extent to which law enforcement agencies engage in certain types of activities rather than demonstrating the broader impacts of law enforcement work. For example, they reveal little about the impact of DLE activity in contributing to the achievement of important broad outcomes, such as making communities feel safer and more secure. Nevertheless, it is these broader impacts that are often described by DLE personnel as being important drivers and rewards for persisting with the DLE effort. This paper provides a description of a model performance measurement framework for DLE in Australia that was developed in an attempted to redress some of the evident limitations of the current systems available in Australia. The framework's development formed a major component of a research project undertaken by the Australian Institute of Criminology on behalf of Australia's National Drug Enforcement Research Fund to provide better, appropriate and meaningful information that could inform the most effective interventions within DLE in Australia.

Related links