Kansas City Police Department Street Narcotics Unit
Axios
Policing
Problems addressed
Crime and delinquency (multiple types)
Disorder and disturbance (or breach) of the peace
Violent crimes
Effectiveness

No Effect

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No Effect

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Life periods served
People of all ages
Where the program was applied
Community (streets or community centers)
Country of application
United States
Description

This is a special police unit designed to break into crack houses. The objective is to reduce drug-related crime and improve public order.
An undercover police officer or confidential informant, under the supervision of an undercover officer, enters the premises with the purpose of purchasing the drug with marked money. If the purchase is successful, the drugs are seized, and a search and seizure warrant is issued for the premises. The warrant may be issued within ten days.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation revealed that the program did not produce a statistically significant difference between the treatment group and the control group in terms of reducing overall rates of calls to the police, calls to report violent crime, property crime, and disorderly person offenses [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Sherman, L. W., Rogan, D. P., Edwards, T., Whipple, R., Shreve, D., Witcher, D., Trimble, W., Unit, T. S. N., Velke, R., Blumberg, M., Beatty, A. & Bridgeforth, C. A. (1995). Deterrent effects of police raids on crack houses: A randomized, controlled experiment. Justice Quarterly, 12(4), 755–781. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418829500096281

Information source