Oakland Beat Health Program

The Oakland Beat Health Program is a civil remedy program. It uses procedures and sanctions specified by civil statutes and regulation to prevent and reduce criminal problems and incivilities. Civil remedies generally aim to persuade non-offending third parties to take responsibility and action to prevent criminal behavior. Beat Health uses civil remedies to control drug and disorder problems by teaming police with city agency representatives to coerce landlords to clean up properties, post "no trespassing signs," enforce civil codes and municipal regulations, and initiate court proceedings against property owners who fail to comply with civil law citations. Civil remedy programs are designed to be proactive and concentrate on prevention.

The goal of this program is to reduce drug and disorder problems in Oakland, California.

The 50 experimental sites targeted by the Beat Health program evidenced decreases in signs of disorder, decreases in males selling drugs, and increases in signs of civil behavior in public places. Using data from 12 months before and 12 months following the 6-month intervention, the evaluation found a statistically significant difference between the control and experimental groups: a 7 percent decrease in the average number of drug calls per experimental site, while the average number per control group increased 54.7 percent. Although police calls increased for both the experimental and control groups, the experimental group experienced a significantly lower number of drug-related service calls. The control-treatment blocks increased in drug problems, particularly at commercial properties. Although the Beat Health program seems to be effective in reducing drug problems, the study indicated no significant difference between experimental and control groups when violent crime, property, and disorder problems were examined. The study also found improvement in drug problems in the areas surrounding the experimental residential sites.