Background:
The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program is a partnership through the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The purpose of the program is to reduce drug trafficking and production in the United States by:
- Facilitating cooperation among Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to share information and implement coordinated enforcement activities
- Supporting coordinated law enforcement strategies which maximize use of available resources to reduce the supply of illegal drugs in Hennepin County
- Annually provide a Drug Threat Assessment for the State of Minnesota to law enforcement leaders
Two of the initiatives the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office is involved with is the NorthCentral HIDTA, Minnesota Investigative Support Center (ISC) and the West Metro Initiative – Hennepin County Violent Offender Task Force (VOTF).
The ISC’s primary goals are Analytical Case Support, Case and Target Deconfliction and Threat Analysis. The ISC puts a strong emphasis to support and encourage agencies and task forces to work together to eliminate Drug Trafficking Organizations from our communities, the state and across the country. The ISC consists of one HIDTAfunded analyst from each of the five HIDTA counties who are collocated in the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, Criminal Intelligence Division. This collocation ensures the best deconfliction and information sharing among the collective of the HIDTA partners throughout the region.
The Hennepin County VOTF focuses on narcotics offenses and violent crime through collaborative partnerships, utilizing all investigative means to conduct focused/targeted investigations on Hennepin County’s most violent offenders leading, to their incarceration. VOTF’s primary goal is to target suspects who have violent criminal histories that we believe to be in possession of firearms as well as narcotics trafficking operations. We accomplish this by gathering information from concerned citizens, cooperating defendants, confidential informants and other investigative means. This information is then used to develop probable cause by which enforcement action can be taken. HC VOTF is a collaborative effort between HCSO, 4 other local agencies and 2 federal agencies.
This amendment is reallocating money from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office North Central (NC) HIDTA Building Public Awareness Funds to a different HIDTA fiduciary to provide funding for an antioverdose social media campaign. This campaign is being done and supported by all seven Minnesota HIDTA counties and other participating NC HIDTA agencies. This money is specifically used for Building Public Awareness campaigns and cannot be used for any other purpose.