DPMP is conducting ‘policy practice projects’. These projects involve dealing with immediate issues confronting Australian policy-makers. Policy practice means engaging directly with policy-makers and providing policy support on specific issues with which they are grappling.
Over the five years of DPMP, we will complete at least one Policy Practice Project with each jurisdiction. The outputs of the policy practice projects will depend on the nature of the problem that the jurisdiction is grappling with, but may include written or verbal policy advice to the organisation in question, a model, literature reviews and so on. Policy practice projects will be publicly disseminated as appropriate.
The aims of the Policy Practice projects are:
- To provide policy support
- To apply policy research findings
- To evaluate DPMP tools and methods as they are used in practice
- To improve the Australian policy processes and quality of decisions
New South Wales Police
Project title: Identifying current and alternate police options for intervening with MDMA
Research team: Caitlin Hughes and Alison Ritter (NDARC)
NSW Police Collaborator: Fiona Christian
Overview:There is a lack of knowledge about the offending profiles of MDMA offenders. Data from the Ecstasy and related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) suggests MDMA users are not a criminally active population, but at the same time rates of reported police incidents involving MDMA in NSW are increasing. This project aims to identify current and alternate police options for intervening with MDMA offenders. It will use the NSW Police database to examine the nature of MDMA offending in NSW (and a comparative group of cannabis offenders). Then it will use a literature review and interviews with NSW Police officers to identify and explore the feasibility and desirability of adopting alternate evidence-based policing options for intervening with MDMA offenders in NSW.
Expected completion date: December 2009
More information:
caitlin.hughes@unsw.edu.au
ACT Health
Project title: Consultation and modelling in relation to the ACT AOD treatment service system
Research team: Alison Ritter (NDARC), Pascal Perez (HEMA) and Jen Badham (Critical Connections)
ACT Health: Helene Delaney
Overview:The ACT is currently in an environment of change. A recent review of treatment services for alcohol and drug dependency has provided some guidance about treatment structures and functions for the ACT. In addition, a new prison will open later in 2008 that will provide drug treatment interventions and there is significant attention to ‘throughcare’ – which will mean ensuring effective links and pathways between the prison and community-based drug treatment services. DPMP is working with the ACT to develop an ACT-specific drug services system model. With a finite set of treatment services, locations and a closed population, it is possible to model the movement of drug users /offenders /clients through the system over time. The model would represent drug users/offenders/clients as ‘agents’ who move around the system according to simple rules driven by existing data. The costs of service provision can also be built into the model. Likewise, measures of harm such as overdose or infection rates can be built in if data exist that can be used as reasonable proxies. The model can also be built on a geographically accurate representation of the ACT:
using mapping software, the placement of the services and the likely movement of agents around the model can then be modelled.
More information:
alison.ritter@unsw.edu.au
Victoria Police
Project title: The development of a Harm Index for use by Victoria Police
Research team: Alison Ritter (NDARC)
Victoria Police: Amelie Hunter
Overview:The Victoria Police are in the process of developing a Drug Harm Index. The purpose of their Index is to inform strategic policing at a local command level. The Index will quantify the harm from illicit drug use and drug-related crime, and will identify (at a local command level) drug types and drug offences causing most harm. The goal is to provide an ongoing measurement tool to track changes over time. The DPMP is engaged as consultants on the project: providing advice on methods, data sources and reviewing documentation.
More information:
alison.ritter@unsw.edu.au
Queensland Police and Queensland Health
Project title: Building a Queensland Cannabis Diversion Model
Research team: Caitlin Hughes and Michael Lodge (NDARC)
Queensland Health: Stephen Anstis and Carol Read
Queensland Police: Murray Ryan and Gabrielle Webb
Overview: Queensland has adopted a comprehensive system of police and court diversion for cannabis users. This includes the police diversion program for minor cannabis offenders, illicit drugs court diversion program for other minor illicit drug offenders and Queensland Magistrate Early Referral into Treatment program. There are a number of questions that now arise about the future directions of the Queensland diversion system. In conjunction with Queensland Health and Police DPMP will build a Cannabis Diversion Model for the Queensland context. The model will incorporate the costs and outcomes of the current system and the likely costs and outcomes if Queensland were to modify its existing system.
More information:
caitlin.hughes@unsw.edu.au
WA Police
Project title: Modelling policies for licensed venues in Perth
Research team: Alison Ritter, Michael Lodge (NDARC), Pascal Perez, Anne Dray (HEMA) and Michael Livingston (Turning Point)
Overview: The Western Australia Police (Alcohol and Drug Coordination Unit) and the Drug and Alcohol Office are jointly interested in exploring policy questions centred on licensed premises and related violence. The two institutions have been collecting venue-based data for some time now and it is felt that this provides a rich source from which to develop a comprehensive and sophisticated model. Having licensed premises as the unit of analysis is something of a departure from the core focus of DPMP work, however there are a number of policy issues around illicit drug use that can logically be explored. Following preliminary contacts established by Alison Ritter, a meeting was held, in May 2008, with WA Police and the Drug & Alcohol Office. After an overall presentation of DPMP, discussions focused on priority areas where modelling could support policy-making processes. The objective is to explore through simulated scenarios the consequences of contrasted policies for licensed venues.
More information:
michael.lodge@unsw.edu.au