DEA launches initiative to reduce violent crime

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has launched a new initiative designed to reduce violent crime in communities throughout the country.

The DEA’s Project Safeguard will identify and prioritize ongoing drug trafficking investigations with a nexus to violent crime. Working with federal, state, and local partners, Project Safeguard will focus on disrupting, dismantling, and destroying the most significant violent drug trafficking organizations in the country; increase collaboration with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) to ensure effective federal prosecution of firearms traffickers associated with drug trafficking organizations; and prioritize the capture of DEA fugitives who employ violence as part of drug trafficking.

DEA Acting Administrator Timothy Shea said the drug traffickers that flood communities with drugs like opioids, heroin, fentanyl, meth, and cocaine, are typically the same criminals responsible for violent crimes in many cities and communities. He added that violent crime has spiked in numerous cities and regions around the country recently.

“Drug trafficking and violent crime are inextricably linked,” Shea said. “From the extreme levels of violence in Mexican cartels to the open-air drug markets in American cities, drug traffickers employ violence, fear, and intimidation to ply their trade. Neighborhoods across our country are terrorized by violent drug trafficking organizations that have little regard for human life and profit from the pain and suffering of our people. Along with our law enforcement partners, DEA is committed to safeguarding the health and safety of our communities.”

Since Project Safeguard began in August, there have been about 29 arrests – including one DEA fugitive. There’s also been more than 39 seized firearms, nearly $467,536 is seized assets, and 514.21 kilograms of seized controlled substances in the El Paso Field Division.

“There is no doubt that drug trafficking and violent crime are linked,” Kyle Williamson, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s El Paso Division, said. “We’ve seen firsthand how Mexican cartels and local street gangs have created a dangerous alliance to distribute some of the deadliest drugs on the planet to every corner of our nation. That is why we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to deliver a swift, calculated, intel-driven response.”