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Lessons Learned From the Organized Crime Narcotics (OCN) Trafficking Enforcement Program Model

NCJ Number
172878
Date Published
December 1998
Length
83 pages
Annotation
This reports discusses the history, structure, dynamics, projects, and investigations of the Organized Crime Narcotics (OCN) Trafficking Enforcement Program developed by the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance as a discretionary grant program to assist police agencies in responding to multijurisdictional drug law offenses.
Abstract
The goal of the OCN program was to promote shared management of resources and joint operational decision-making to enhance the ability of local, State, and Federal police agencies to remove specifically targeted major drug trafficking conspiracies and offenders through investigation, arrest, prosecution, and conviction. The project control group was a representative oversight group that was critical to the success of the OCN program. The control group set policy, selected cases to be investigated and prosecuted, allocated resources, and provided continuous oversight. The OCN project locations included sites in varied types of communities in 22 States. OCN projects were responsible for 16,366 drug-related arrests and the seizure of more than $1 billion worth of illegal drugs, cash, and illegally derived assets. The projects demonstrated that the multijurisdictional approach to law enforcement was beneficial both by removing criminals and drugs from the streets and by creating strong and united law enforcement structures to deal with large criminal organizations. Figures, tables, and appended background information