Developing Local Police and Federal Law Enforcement Partnerships: G.R.E.A.T. as a Case Study of Policy Implementation

Abstract

This article deals with the evolution of the Gang Resistance Education and Training program (G.R.E.A.T.), from conceptual idea to policy implementation. In late May 1991, U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini attended a "town hall meeting" of Phoenix-area police agencies. At that meeting, informal discussions about a law enforcement-based anti-gang program similar to Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) was discussed. By the spring of 1992, a prototype program was presented to a school in the Phoenix area. Within months of this offering, the resulting program was being offered in schools across the nation. From that point to the present, there seems to be little disagreement as to what has transpired. It is toward the origins of the program that this article is directed, and to the sometimes tortuous path that the program and its progenitors followed to go from idea to implementation of G.R.E.A.T. Ultimately, our goal is to compare and contrast this instance of intergovernmental cooperation with the extant literature and determine the extent to which the creation of G.R.E.A.T. as a case study adds to our understanding of how criminal justice policy moves from an idea to implementation.