Program Profile: Specialized Multi Agency Response Team (SMART)

This is a multi-agency team-based, drug-control program in Oakland, Calif., which is designed to reduce drug-related problems and improve habitation conditions at targeted problem areas. The program is rated Effective. Treatment areas experienced a statistically significant decrease in police contacts following the implementation of the program.

An Effective rating implies that implementing the program is likely to result in the intended outcome(s).

An Effective rating implies that implementing the program is likely to result in the intended outcome(s).

Program Goals

The Specialized Multi Agency Response Team (SMART) program is part of a team-based approach to reduce drug-related problems and improve habitation conditions at targeted problem sites.

Target Population/Eligibility

As part of the Oakland Beat Health program, target sites are identified by police according to the number of emergency calls from an area, the number of narcotic arrests there, or special requests for police assistance from community-based groups. Sites can be residential or commercial, and they often experience multiple problems—from blight to squatters to prostitution.

Program Activities

Once a site has been identified, the police visit the area and meet with various stakeholders (such as community representatives, landlords, and business owners) to establish working relationships. Police attempt to communicate to the stakeholders that they (the police) are invested in cleaning up the area. The police suggest simple crime prevention measures and explain landlords’ rights and tenants’ responsibilities. Activities can vary by site and include alternative, problem-solving tactics (e.g., inspecting drug-nuisance properties, posting “no trespassing” signs) and traditional law enforcement tactics (e.g., the arrest of drug dealers, increased police patrols at targeted sites).

If these early measures do not lead to improvements, police deploy SMARTs to identify violations of various civil laws and regulatory rules. The team can include representatives from a variety of agencies, including housing, public works, fire, vector control, and the public utilities. These representatives inspect local properties, and when violations are identified to local fire, housing, or public works, vector control, or public utilities, the city inspectors issue citations. The most common citation is for violating the housing code. When violations are not rectified, civil laws can be used to bring suit against owners of drug-nuisance properties. In California, this stage leads to about 2 percent of SMART cases being referred for formal court action against the property owner. 

The SMART program includes the Landlord Training Program, which encourages landlords to screen potential renters. The landlords also learn about the processes for evicting unsatisfactory tenants who are causing problems.

Study

Green (1995) conducted a quasi-experimental study with comparison sites to assess whether crime reductions in the experimental area had benefited nearby areas or crime simply had been displaced to other areas. The sample included 321 sites that received a Specialized Multi Agency Response Team (SMART) intervention in 1991. About half of the sites had multiple problems. The large majority of sites (87 percent) were residential, and about three fourths of the properties were leased or rented. The median value of targeted properties was $69,824, though five were valued at more than $1 million; the median home property value in Oakland at the time was $185,000.

Data were obtained from the Oakland Police Department on all narcotics arrests and field contacts (instances when police stopped and talked to people at the problem location) from 1990 through 1992 (n = 117,917). A total of 22,335 individuals accounted for 70,783 contacts or arrests during this period at the SMART sites and in the catchment areas. Before the intervention, each experimental site averaged about 38 arrests and 34 field contacts a year. To capture either the displacement or diffusion effects of the SMART implementation, a two-block boundary around each site was delineated. Green used computerized crime-mapping software to map the 321 sites and measured baseline levels of mobility patterns before the implementation of SMART.

Green conducted a two-stage analysis. In the first stage, she assessed the overall rate of change in the catchment areas before and after implementation of the SMART. She assessed the total and mean numbers of people contacted/arrested at the SMART locations and in the surrounding catchment areas. In the second stage, she assessed displacement or diffusion effects by tracking the time sequence and the points of arrest and field contact for people moving around within these areas. No subgroup analyses were conducted.

Diffusion and Displacement

Green (1995) examined the diffusion of benefits in catchment areas surrounding treatment areas that implemented the Specialized Multi Agency Response Team (SMART) program. She found that the surrounding areas experienced a statistically significant decrease in police contacts, suggesting a diffusion of benefits.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Mazerolle, Lorraine Green, James Price, and Jan Roehl. 2000. “Civil Remedies and Drug Control: A Randomized Field Trial in Oakland, California.” Evaluation Review 24(2):212–41.

Mazerolle, Lorraine Green, and Jan Roehl. 1999. Controlling Drug and Disorder Problems: A Focus on Oakland’s Beat Health Problems. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.

Following are CrimeSolutions-rated programs that are related to this practice:

Problem-Oriented Policing

These analytic methods are used by police to develop crime prevention and reduction strategies. The practice is rated Promising and led to a significant decline in crime and disorder.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types

Street-Level Drug Law Enforcement

This practice includes targeted-policing approaches for reducing drug and drug-related offenses. This practice is rated Promising in reducing reported, drug-related calls for services and offenses against persons. This practice is rated Ineffective in reducing reported property offenses, public order calls for service, and total offenses.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

	Crime & Delinquency - Drug and alcohol offenses
	Crime & Delinquency - Violent offenses
	Crime & Delinquency - Property offenses
	Crime & Delinquency - Public order offenses
	Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types

Disorder Policing

This is a policing strategy to reduce crime and delinquency by focusing efforts on disorderly neighborhood conditions and minor crime offenses. This practice is rated Effective for reducing multiple types of crime and delinquency, and rated Promising for reducing specific types of crimes, including property, violent, and drug and alcohol offenses.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

	Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types
	Crime & Delinquency - Drug and alcohol offenses
	Crime & Delinquency - Violent offenses
	Crime & Delinquency - Property offenses

Geographically Focused Policing Initiatives

Geographically focused policing initiatives increase the presence and visibility of police officers at specific high-crime locations to significantly reduce crime and disorder. This practice is rated Promising for reducing crime in treatment areas relative to control areas.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types

Why might a practice's outcome ratings differ from the ratings of specific programs encompassed by that practice?