Managing Conflict in Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Units

What type of conflict is described in the case study?

The case study made it clear that there were multiple conflicts involved in the multi-jurisdictional drug units (hereinafter alternatively task force) that were created to combat the purported proliferation of what the authors term crystal methedrine (but actually mean crystal methamphetamine) throughout the county of interest. Although the case study is silent concerning any evidence of the actual prevalence of meth labs in the county, the creation of the task force suggests the evidence justified this aggressive intervention. Nevertheless, the task force initiative suffered from a leadership conflict from the outset, including most especially a lack of definitional clarity about the task forces role and responsibilities in the foundational memorandum of understanding between the participating municipalities. Indeed, virtually all of the other inter-jurisdictional and even intra-jurisdictional conflicts between city police and fire departments that emerged during the 18-month existence of the task force can be attributed to this original conflict in varying degrees.

Some indication of the organizational turf battles that would come to define the task force was the fact that just 10 out of the original 15 cities recruited for the task force ultimately agreed to participate due to conflicts over the manner in which it should be organized. Likewise, each of the ten jurisdictions that agreed to participate in the task force suffered from a litany of internal rivalries concerning who was in charge for how long and for what purposes. These issues in particular were cited time and again in the case study as being among the most important antecedents to the ultimate failure of the task force.

Likewise, there were also conflicts between the original jurisdictions concerning how the task force should be budgeted and, like debates over the inequities caused by the inequitable population representation in the U.S. Senate, what role that population and available federal financial resources should play in determining which jurisdictions should have greater authority in administering...…on these initiatives have failed to achieve any discernible reduction in drug usage or trafficking in the United States. In fact, illicit drug use by Americans has increased significantly over the past half century and the ongoing opioid crisis is a clear indication that the war on drugs has not succeeded in achieving its objectives (Miller, 2020).

Suggest ways in which the conflict described in this case study could have been managed more effectively. Should the unit have ever existed?

In many ways, the ambitious task force concept was an appropriate and timely response to the proliferation of meth labs in this county. The conflicts that emerged could have been prevented by ensuring that appropriate provisions were made in the memorandum of understanding concerning the formal chain of command and the individual responsibilities of each task force member. In addition, the task force should not have been created without ensuring that its members received the specialized training they needed for meth lab interdictions, including coordination with fire…