Effective third-party policing partnerships or missed opportunities?

Abstract

In the last decade, in particular, policing organisations have increasingly been called upon to adapt to rising demands on their resources. These demands have required policing organisations to think more strategically about the way policing business is performed and the types of crime outcomes being achieved. More complex crime challenges particularly in the area of organised crime have influenced police to adopt more proactive methods. This paper examines an innovative policing partnerships response to a serious illicit drug crime problem in Australia. The key objective of the paper is to analyse police perspectives of the operations and functionality of the partnership with community pharmacists, at the state policy level and at the local level in two jurisdictions. This paper highlights the importance of developing a partnership model that alleviates the 'disconnect' experienced by police who are translating the partnership at the local level.