This data collection is the result of an evaluation of the
NEPHU program, conducted by the Police Foundation under the
sponsorship of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). In August
1989, the Bureau of Justice Assistance supported a grant in Denver,
Colorado, to establish a special Narcotics Enforcement in Public
Housing Unit (NEPHU) within the Denver Police Department. The goal of
the Denver NEPHU was to reduce the availability of narcotics in and
around the city's public housing areas by increasing drug arrests.
NEPHU's six full-time officers made investigations and gathered
intelligence leading to on-street arrests and search warrants. The
unit also operated a special telephone Drug Hotline and met regularly
with tenant councils in the developments to improve community
relations. The program worked in cooperation with the Denver Housing
Authority and the uniformed patrol division of the Denver Police
Department, which increased levels of uniformed patrols to maintain
high visibility in the project areas to deter conventional crime.
Using a panel design, survey interviews were conducted with residents
in the Quigg Newton and Curtis Park public housing units, focusing on
events that occurred during the past six months. Respondents were
interviewed during three time periods to examine the onset and
persistence of any apparent program effects. In December 1989,
interviews were completed with residents in 521 households. In June
1990, 422 respondents were interviewed in Wave 2. Wave 3 was conducted
in December 1990 and included 423 respondents. In all, 642 individuals
were interviewed, 283 of whom were interviewed for all three waves.
Because of the evaluation's design, the data can be analyzed to reveal
individual-level changes for the 283 respondents who were interviewed
on all three occasions, and the data can also be used to determine a
cross-section representation of the residents by including the 359
"new" persons interviewed during the course of the evaluation.
Information collected includes years and months lived in the
development, assessments of changes in the neighborhood, whether the
respondent planned to stay in the development, interactions among
residents, awareness of anti-drug programs, ranking of various
problems in the development, concerns and reports of being a victim of
various crimes, perceived safety of the development, assessment of
drug use and availability, assessment of police activity and
visibility, and personal contacts with police. The unit of analysis is
the individual.