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August 9, 2025 PERF study finds third-party policing may help address some drug-related issues
PERF members, Earlier this year PERF published the results of a National Institute of Justice–funded study of third-party policing in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. As defined in the report, third-party policing “involves police efforts to persuade or coerce nonoffending third parties (landlords, business owners, etc.) to take on more responsibility for addressing crime and disorder at or around their premises.” Research on third-party policing has been positive, showing that it can generate significant short-term reductions in crime. According to Dr. Lorraine Mazerolle—a professor emeritus at the University of Queensland and a member of PERF’s Research Advisory Board—partnerships with third parties that are collaborative, that are rooted in procedural justice, and that target mutually beneficial goals are likely to have the greatest impact on crime and be sustainable over the long term. Dr. Mazerolle evaluated the effects of a collaborative model of third-party policing—called Operation Galley—on illicit drug activity at hotels and motels in Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia. The intervention involved members of the Queensland Police Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Services engaging a group of randomly selected hotels and motels via mailed letters and in-person visits. During visits, public safety teams used procedural justice dialogues to establish a cooperative partnership with hotel staff and obtain their commitment to reporting suspicious drug-related activity. Hotel staff were also provided with training and resources to help identify physical and behavioral indicators of drug activity. Findings from Dr. Mazerolle’s evaluation showed that hotels in the treatment group called in significantly more tips, which led to more warrants served, charges brought, and arrests made. The aim of PERF’s study was to replicate Dr. Mazerolle’s work in Australia to determine if the successes of Operation Galley would transfer to the U.S. context. As described in our study, PERF conducted “a randomized controlled evaluation of a [third-party policing] intervention implemented in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The intervention, called Operation Check-Out, aimed to reduce drug problems at hotels and motels by fostering trusted partnerships between police and hotel staff. Officers from the Anne Arundel County Police Department conducted four in-person visits between August 2022 and May 2023 to a randomly selected group of hotels. During in-person visits, officers engaged in a scripted procedural justice dialogue with hotel managers, delivered education materials, identified legal responsibilities, and provided a dedicated email address that functioned as a ‘tip line’ to report problems or suspicious activity directly to the Operation Check-Out team.” We collected data on four categories of calls for service: drug activity, sick persons (e.g., overdoses), disorder, and violence. We found three significant outcomes:
The first two findings suggest that third-party policing may reduce drug activity and overdoses. The third finding, that there were more disorder calls during the intervention, was a bit surprising, but we theorized that hotel staff may have been “more willing to contact the police as a result of Operation Check-Out because, for example, they may have felt they had a supportive partner in addressing issues at their hotel, or they may have understood that the intervention involved repeated visits and become concerned about bringing trouble to the hotel if they failed to report problems to police.” The findings from PERF’s evaluation are consistent with Dr. Mazerolle’s work in Australia, along with several past studies on third-party policing. Together, the research to date suggests that police departments can achieve meaningful reductions in crime using this strategy. And this crime reduction can be accomplished via community engagement and shared responsibility with third parties without the need for coercive measures. We conclude with five recommendations for agencies interested in implementing a third-party policing strategy:
Examples of third-party policing can be found in cities across the country. In 2023, the Harris County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office launched an initiative aimed at improving conditions in a neighborhood plagued with high crime and neglected apartment complexes where residents felt unsafe to step outside at night. According to a report from Houston Landing, “To complete the program, landlords must attend an eight-hour seminar, make property improvements dictated by sheriff’s officials, allow deputies to conduct on-site inspections, and host an annual crime prevention event with tenants.” In return for their participation, building owners receive a certificate recognizing their completion of the program, which they can then use to promote their properties as a safer option. Problem-oriented policing was a key focus for PERF in our early years, and I see this research as building on that earlier work. I encourage everyone to review the full report. Thank you to Chief Amal Awad and the Anne Arundel County Police Department for partnering with us on this project, to Dr. Lorraine Mazerolle for bringing us this research idea, to the National Institute of Justice for funding this work, and to the PERF staff members who worked on this study, particularly Deputy Research Director Jeremy Barnum, former Senior Research Assistant Kevin Lucey, Research Director Meagan Cahill, and Senior Research Scientist William Sousa. Best, Chuck |