The Organisation of the Queensland Police Drug Unit - Research Proposal Example

Assignment 1 – Case Study This report presents a research into the Queensland Police Drug Unit' Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 INTRODUCTION 3 DATA COLLECTION METHODS 3 FINDINGS 4 Services 5 Organisation of the Queensland Drug Unit 7 The Police Citizens Youth Club 8 School Based Policing Program 9 Safety House Programme 10 THE SUCCESS KEY POINTS 10 CONCLUSION 11 INTRODUCTION The Queensland Police Drug Unit is tasked with the mandate of providing the officers and the leadership of the Queensland Police Service and other national authorities and government departments with services like risk management, research into substance abuse, strategic policy establishment, review and advice, marketing, management and development of the unit and management of such programs as party safety and drink rites amongst others. This paper looks at the organisation of the Queensland Police Drug Unit. The data collection methods have been described as it looks at the various ways in which the unit organises it services. This is a very important study since it presents useful information to students of criminal justice as it shades light on the efficiency of the drug unit. It allows the students to understand what is involved in criminal justice and how the work is carried out and help them to become better employees when they venture into such a field in future. The issues addressed in this paper are also useful to the Police Drug Unit which will recognize the areas of weakness so that they ca be able to improve on them. The citizens of Queensland will also use the information in this paper t familiarize themselves with the organisation of the unit and offer advice and help on areas that they deem need improvement. DATA COLLECTION METHODS Data collection was done to look into the structure and organisation of the Queensland Drug Unit. Data collection was done though the following methods: 1. One-on-one interviews with the Unit’s staff 2. Survey carried out on the efficiency of the unit in its operations 3. Review of available literature from secondary sources of data like the Queensland police organisation structure, the recruitment process and the services offered by the Queensland Police Drug Unit. The one-on-one interviews were carried out on Friday 27/05/2011 at the Queensland Police Headquarters where the drug unit is based. The interview was administered on 7 staff of the drug unit. Each interview lasted 15 minutes and sought to obtain the views of the staff members as far as the drug unit is concerned. The survey into the efficiency of the drug unit was done by collecting the views of the Queenslanders on what they think is the operation of the Police Drug Unit. These views were collected using simple questionnaire that sought to find out if they think that the drug unit is well organised to deliver its services. The two techniques of data collection were augmented with a deep research into the organisation of the Drug unit by reviewing the available literature from the Queensland Police website, the public library and any other studies that have already been done on the same topic. FINDINGS From the study done on the Queensland Police Drug nit, it was apparent that the staff of the unit fully understood their roles in the society and the services the unit offered. These were consistent with the information retrieved from the Police website and the public library. The next section will now look at the services of the Queensland Police Drug Unit. Services The Queensland Police Drug Unit operates in four main Outreach services. These include: 1. The SOS which stands for Street Outreach Services that are based in Toowoomba, Bundaberg and Brisbane. This usually takes part on Fridays and Saturdays at night. This program is designed to reach out to the community by providing support, information, transport and referrals to individuals, especially the young people who are homeless and live on the streets and are dependant on alcohol and other drugs. 2. The MOSHPIT refers to the Mobile Outreach Support and Health Program by Integrated Teams which is based in Brisbane and its services are available during the day. Here, one can find specialized mobile health and outreach services to people dependent on drugs including the youth who are homeless addicted to substance abuse. The MOSHPIT moves around with a van that is equipped with a mobile health centre that provides dressings for minor wounds, referrals, checkups and support to making sure that they get housing where possible. 3. Treatment services that include the CAFSS, the FADS, the GAADSS, the FSP and CASPA services that offer different treatment services to the people affected with drugs. They also offer advice to families and individuals on issues involving drugs. The CASPA program in collaboration with the Toowoomba family for example offers emotional and educational support to children who are having a hard time coping with families affected by drugs and drug related domestic violence. 4. The Queensland Illicit Drugs Diversion Initiative (QIDDI) is a program that operates in Brisbane among other areas. It offers early intervention and assessment plans to children under the age of 12 who face court charges due to substance abuse. This also works together with Queensland Health to offer after care services. This is a flexible plan that is client centred and focuses mainly on health, social and psychological limitations to re-acceptance into the society. With all the programs listed above in place, it is now evident that the Queensland Police Drug Unit provides management and officers who offer the following main services: Strategic development of policies, review and advice to the victims, the government and other agencies Risk management that arises from substance abuse Research into ways of dealing with the drug abuse Problem Provision of information, training and resources concerning substance abuse This information maintained from the interviews of the staff and the review of the available information on the services of the drug unit was very different from what the people of Queensland though they were. The survey that was conducted to find out what the people think of the Queensland dug unit revealed that a majority of them (67%), believe that the unit is mandate with the responsibility of punishing the people abusing drugs. 21% of them felt that the unit arrests the people who are suspected to abuse drugs and those who sell them and lock them behind bars. Only a few of the, less than 10% related the services of the drug unit to helping and rehabilitating the people who abuse drugs. The remaining less than 10% did not know the services offered by the Queensland Police Drug Unit. This shows the misconception people have towards the unit and more efforts should be put in by the government to educate the public on the importance of this unit and listed earlier in this section. Organisation of the Queensland Drug Unit This unit operates under the Operations Support Command via the Policing Advancement Branch. This shown by the arrow in the Queensland Police Service Organisation structure below. The structure is not very clear as most of the people in Queensland find it hard to reach to the services they want. The unit is however said to work in three broad categories: The Police Citizens Youth Club Its operations are overseen officially by a board of directors who are recruited on volunteer basis. The board in usually made up of retired of serving police officers and community members. They are responsible for: 1. Formulating and providing the directions for the implementations of the PCYC policies. 2. Managing PCYC assets and its investments 3. Supervision and ratification of the actions arising form the day-to-day management of the business at PCYC. The operations of the PCYC board are overseen by the branch advisory committee or management in each of the branches. Each of this advisory committee at the branches is responsible for determining the strategy with which the policies concerning drug abuse will be implemented. The Sergent of Police who is the branch manager reports to the branch advisory committee and is given the role of making sure that the policies are implemented as set by the committee to make sure that drug abuse among the youth is minimised as much as possible. School Based Policing Program Information from the Queensland Police Website revealed that the Police Drug Unit also works under the School Based Policing Program whose main role is to establish good relationships between the secondary school community and the police department to ensure a safe and conducive learning environment safe from drugs. The program has police officers based at the schools and they support students at risk of being involved in drugs while encouraging the school management to use approaches that prevent indulgence into drugs and do proactive policing. The School Based Policing Program has helped the Queensland Police Drug Unit to help high schools through: Attending to specific needs within the school Helping teachers to adopt a curriculum that addresses the issue of drug abuse Undertaking initial investigation and response to drug abuse cases within the vicinity of the school. Safety House Programme This is a programme funded by the community to ensure that there are several easily accessible houses and businesses within the community that can be used by the children whenever they feel unsafe. The programme plays a role in providing safety to the people within the community. THE SUCCESS KEY POINTS The Key Points of success for the Queensland Police Drug Unit lies it its ability to push its vision that states that 'Queensland is a safe and secure place to live, visit and do business.' With such a vision, the staff agreed that the Drug unit strives to make Queensland a a secure place for everyone, wether visiting, living or working there. There is no doubt that a society prone to substance abuse will always be marred with cases of insecurity and violence. To make sure that they stick to the vision, the unit then puts in more effort to ensure that drug abuse is dealt with very well. In addition to this, the Police Service Mission states that it aims to “To deliver high quality, innovative, progressive and responsive policing services.” To ensure that this is possible, the unit has made us of the available policies and programs to ensure that they are successful. The unit has also made a lot of relevant information available to the public concerning substance abuse. The information on Volatile Substance Misuse available on the police website gives great insights into what is meant by Volatile Substance Misuse, the effects, disadvantages and the appropriate cases under which they should be used. This coupled with all the efforts put in by the force to mitigate the cases of substance abuse, and then the unit has been known to be successful over the past five years. CONCLUSION This paper describes the organisation of the Queensland Police Drug unit. The techniques of data collection have been explained and the methods used to get data from the staff and the citizens of Queensland concerning the operations and successes of the drug unit have also been recorded. These include the use of one-on-one interviews with the staff of the drug unit, the survey of the views of the citizens towards the unit and the review of available literature from the public library and the police website. It presents the various services of the Police Dug Unit and it was apparent that what the people of Queensland view to be the services of the drug unit are very different from what the real services are. The people of Queensland have a very negative view of the services police as a whole. However, the view of the Queensland police drug unit shows that the unit is involved in different programmes geared towards rehabilitating the drug addicts and reducing the cases of substance abuse in Queensland. The organisation of the Drug Unit is not very formal but it is under the Policing Advancement Branch of the organisation of the Police Service. I relation with different programmes such as PCYC, Home Safety and School Based Policing, the unit is able to carry out its roles. This reports is very important to students of criminology since is will assist them in understanding how to handle case of drug abuse and what decisions they can make if they wish to pursue a career in substance abuse. References Queensland Police. (2010b). QPS Organisational Structure. Retrieved from Queensland Police website: http://www.police.qld.gov.au/aboutUs/the_service/structure/ Queensland Police. (2008b). Operations Support Command. Retrieved from http://www.police.qld.gov.au/services/reportsPublications/statementAffairs/04/12.htm Queensland Police. (2010). Volatile Substance Misuse. Retrieved from http://www.police.qld.gov.au/services/drugs/vsm/background.htm Australian Drug Foundation (2002) Inhalant use by young people. 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