Geography's impact on the success of focused local drug enforcement operations

Abstract This paper evaluates a natural experiment created by simultaneous attempts to eradicate street markets for illicit drugs in two areas of Hartford, Connecticut. The target markets were comparable in size and nature except for some geographic factors, and the interventions were nearly identical. Nevertheless, the outcomes were strikingly different, suggesting that geographic factors may influence the success of local drug enforcement operations. This paper reviews Hartford's experience and examines some data that seem to support this hypothesis.