Evaluation of Multi-Jurisdictional Task Forces Project: Phase I Final Report

• NCJ Number: 200904
• Author(s): David W. Hayeslip Ph.D.; Malcolm L. Russell-Einhorn J.D.
• Date Published: September 2002
• Length: 227 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Research Report
• Grant Number(s): 1999-DD-BX-0034
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

This report represents Phase I of a project designed to evaluate the missions and effectiveness of multijurisdictional drug task forces (MJTFs).

Abstract

The study, entitled Evaluation of Multijurisdictional Task Forces Project, was undertaken by Abt Associates in 1999, with support from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The project was designed in two phases; the first phase elaborates evaluation methodologies that can be used by State administrative agencies, individual task forces, and others, while the second phase field tests these methodologies to evaluate transferability, ease of use, and effectiveness at the State and local levels. This report on Phase I is organized into five sections, reflecting the different stages of methodology development. The first section reviews the research literature about previous MJTF evaluations. The literature review revealed that almost no attention has been given to the effects of MJTFs on regional and local environments. The second section describes two mail surveys that were administered as part of the methodology development process. One survey was administered to State administrative agencies and collected information about their use of task forces. The second survey was administered to MJTFs and collected information about their operations. The third section of the report recounts the findings from site visits to 6 States and 18 task forces. The site visits revealed that MJTFs play an integral role in local drug enforcement efforts. The fourth and fifth sections describe the development and testing of different methodologies. The fourth section explains the process involved in developing the research questions, measures to be used, and the study design. The fifth section focuses on the administration and results of the pre-tests. Results revealed that the proposed methodologies were appropriate and able to be implemented at State and local levels. Appendices