Drugs and Police Response: Survey of Public Housing Residents in Denver, Colorado, 1989-1990 (ICPSR 6482)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

This data collection is the result of an evaluation of the NEPHU program, conducted by the Police Foundation under the sponsorship of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). In August 1989, the Bureau of Justice Assistance supported a grant in Denver, Colorado, to establish a special Narcotics Enforcement in Public Housing Unit (NEPHU) within the Denver Police Department. The NEPHU program was primarily enforcement-oriented and employed traditional policing methods, but the unit focused new energy and resources on tackling drug problems in Denver's public housing units. The NEPHU's six full-time officers (one lieutenant, one sergeant, and four detectives) made investigations and gathered intelligence leading to on-street arrests and search warrants. The unit also operated a special telephone Drug Hotline and met regularly with tenant councils in the developments to improve community relations. The program worked in cooperation with the Denver Housing Authority and the uniformed patrol division of the Denver Police Department, which increased levels of uniformed patrols to maintain high visibility in these areas, to deter conventional crime. The goal of the Denver NEPHU was to reduce the availability of narcotics in and around the city's public housing areas by increasing drug arrests. It was hoped that this would, in turn, lower the incidence of both violent crimes and property crimes, reduce residents' fear of crime, and increase residents' confidence in the police.

Study Design View help for Study Design

With the assistance of the Denver Housing Authority, two matched housing developments were selected in which to monitor the progress of the NEPHU program. The Curtis Park Homes development is located in northeast Denver. The population of this area of Denver is predominantly American-born, of Mexican ancestry, although the residents of the Curtis Park Homes are overwhelmingly African-American. The Quigg Newton Homes development is located in north Denver and has been predominantly Hispanic since the 1950s. Using a panel design, survey interviews were conducted with residents in these housing units, focusing on events that occurred during the past six months. Respondents were interviewed during three time periods to examine of the onset and persistence of any apparent program effects. In December 1989, attempts were made to contact all households in the two target developments. In June 1990, second-wave interviewers revisited units where Wave 1 interviews had been successfully completed and reinterviewed the original Wave 1 respondents if they still lived in the units. New respondents were solicited if the Wave 1 respondents had moved from the households. The third wave of the survey was conducted in December 1990. Interviewers again revisited all the units in which interviews had been completed in Wave 1, selecting replacement respondents if those interviewed in the past had left the households. In all, 642 individuals were interviewed, 283 of whom were interviewed for all three waves. A total of 1,366 interviews were conducted. Because of the evaluation's design, the data can be analyzed in two different ways. First, responses by the 283 respondents who were interviewed on all three occasions can be tracked to reveal individual-level changes in experiences and opinions during 1990. Second, because of people moving in and out of the projects during the course of the year, 359 "new" persons living in the target developments were interviewed during the course of the evaluation. By including them, each wave of interviews also produced more representative cross-sections of the residents of Curtis Park and Quigg Newton at each point in time.

Sample View help for Sample

Two matched housing developments in Denver were chosen. Out of 751 households in the two housing developments, interviews were completed with residents in 521 households in Wave 1. Of these, 422 households were reinterviewed in Wave 2, and 423 were reinterviewed in Wave 3. New respondents were solicited from the households if the original respondents no longer lived there.

Universe View help for Universe

All public housing developments in Denver, Colorado, that were targeted by the NEPHU program.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Source View help for Data Source

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

Information collected includes years and months lived in the development, assessments of changes in the neighborhood, whether the respondent planned to stay in the development, interactions among residents, awareness of anti-drug programs, ranking of various problems in the development, concerns and reports of being a victim of various crimes, perceived safety of the development, assessment of drug use and availability, assessment of police activity and visibility, and personal contacts with police.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Several Likert-like scales were used.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

1995-08-16

Version History View help for Version History