Cooperative Interagency Approaches to the Illegal Drug Problem

Abstract

Recent advances in law enforcement recognise that, increasingly, more types of crime have migrated across localities and even nations. Law enforcement requires the combined efforts of disparate agencies that must cooperate across organisational and jurisdictional boundaries. Nowhere is this trend more evident than in efforts to combat illegal drug trafficking. Recent efforts involve applying new communication and information technologies to assist the agencies to pool their talents and information in order to attack their common problems more efficiently and effectively. This paper is a case study of such a multi-agency alliance. It describes the two formative phases of the alliance: negotiation and commitment. The paper recounts several potential barriers to the formation of multi-agency alliances, including agency diversity, resource limitations and disincentives to collaboration. The paper also identifies critical factors for the successful formation of alliances, including common goals, facilitative structural mechanisms, broad participation and external support.