ANTI‐DRUG SMUGGLING OPERATIONAL RESEARCH IN HM CUSTOMS AND EXCISE
| Published date | 01 December 1992 |
| Author | J. A. CLARK,C. J. SANCTUARY |
| Date | 01 December 1992 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00957.x |
ANTI-DRUG
SMUGGLING
OPERATIONAL
RESEARCH
IN
HM
CUSTOMS
AND
EXCISE
J.
A.
CLARK AND C.
J.
SANCTUARY
1.
INTRODUCTION
The last decade has seen the widespread development and application in the public
services of methods to measure and improve the level of effectiveness and financial
accountability. This article discussed such developments by the Operational
Research
(OR)
group in
HM
Customs and Excise in the area of
drugs
enforcement,
which represents one of the top operational priorities of the department. The article
is intended to communicate some of the difficulties and successes in this problematic
area.
The structure of the article is as follows. After a brief description of the depart-
ment’s anti-smuggling resources and operations, Section
3
introduces the key
concepts in performance measurement. Section
4
describes the work behind our
conclusion that the interception rate is not feasible as an accountable measure of
performance. The practical innovations we have made in performance measure-
ment are then outlined in Section
5,
in particular the indicator of drugs prevented
from entering the
UK.
Operational research to assist
in
performance improvement
through the internal management of resources is described
in
Section
6
while
Section
7
looks at indicators and cost-effectiveness in the investigation and intelli-
gence functions. The
final
section summarizes the benefits of this work and priorities
for future development.
2.
ANTI-SMUGGLING RESOURCES
AND
OPERATIONS
Customs and Excise has some
3,200
anti-smuggling staff worlung at ports and
airports in the
UK,
involved in the control of passengers and of transport (including
pleasure craft,
aircraft,
commercial vehicles and containers).
In
addition, it employs
some
600
investigators and
a
similar number of intelligence
staff
whose primary
duties lie in the drugs field.
C.
J.
Sanctuary is Head
of
Operational Research Group, Management and Consultancy Services,
HM
Customs and Excise;
J.
A.
Clark, formerly
of
the Operational Research Group is now at
Department
of
Social Security.
Public Administration
Vol.
70
Winter
1992
(577-589)
0
1992
Crown copyright
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