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What You Find Depends on Where You Look: Using Emergency Medical Services Call Data to Target Illicit Drug Use Hot Spots

NCJ Number
247544
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2014 Pages: 169-185
Author(s)
Julie Hibdon; Elizabeth R. Groff
Date Published
May 2014
Length
17 pages
Annotation

This study illustrates the importance of using multiple datasets to characterize the micro-spatial distribution of illicit drug events in Seattle, WA.

Abstract

Geographically targeting law enforcement at drug hot spots is a common response to drug problems, but because they are generated with police data, they only reflect what the police already know about narcotics crime. In this study, the authors illustrate the importance of using multiple datasets to characterize the micro-spatial distribution of illicit drug events in Seattle, WA, by examining and comparing the Seattle Fire Department's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) calls and Seattle Police Department's crime incidents in 2004. The authors found that both EMS calls and police incidents indicate illicit drug use was concentrated at a small number of street segments, yet their spatial patterning was different. Together, the two data sources identify new street segments as "hot places" of drug use suggesting that law enforcement agencies should incorporate EMS data to more accurately locate drug hot spots. Abstract published by arrangement with Sage Journals.