Official Praises Innovative Law Enforcement Tactics : Crime: ‘Community policing,’ faster court action are approaches cited in 4-year Justice Department program.

WASHINGTON — Innovations like “community policing” and faster court action on drug cases “are beginning to make a difference” in the battle against drugs and crime, a federal official said Sunday.

The comments by Charles DeWitt, director of the National Institute of Justice, were based on the institute’s evaluation of innovative approaches to law enforcement and criminal justice.

The Justice Department has awarded more than $1 billion to states and local agencies in the last four years to improve their methods of fighting crime and illegal drugs. The institute, a research agency, is part of the department.

“Preliminary findings are available in some key areas, and promising evaluations are under way in many jurisdictions across the nation,” DeWitt said in a statement.

“Taken together, asset seizures, multi-jurisdictional task forces, boot camps, drug testing, community policing and expedited drug case processing are beginning to make a difference.”

The institute report said that in Philadelphia a project to expedite the handling of drug cases resulted in a 34% reduction, to 77 days, in the time between arraignment and trial. The average time between conviction and sentencing dropped to 13 days, compared to 33 days before the project.

Also evaluated were results from 10 community organizations in nine cities that took part in a demonstration project aimed at increasing links with police. The institute said relations with police improved in all the cities.

Identification of drug hot spots and the closing of drug houses provides the backbone for police-community relationships in the cities, the report said.

Designation of drug-free school zones also was useful, the report said, as a way to rally public opinion and to encourage neighborhood residents to take action.