Some of the cocaine seized by police during the series of raids. Provided by the New York State Attorney General's Office.
Recently, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, during an in-person meeting with Acting Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy James Carroll, urged him to grant Oswego County’s request to be designated as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Schumer explained that Oswego County has recently experienced a spike in drug trafficking and overdose deaths, negatively affecting the health and well-being of residents, and that this HIDTA designation would improve coordination among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, in addition to providing Oswego with the equipment, technology and additional resources to tackle this challenge.
Last month, a coalition of Oswego County law enforcement submitted a request to ONDCP to be designated as a HIDTA and is awaiting its decision.
“In my meeting with Acting Director Carroll, I made it clear that Oswego County, like many others in Upstate New York, has been devastated by the scourge of drug trafficking. While local law enforcement has been working diligently to combat the growing problem, they need more federal support,” said Senator Schumer. “The HIDTA designation, if granted by ONDCP, would provide Oswego County law enforcement with additional resources, manpower and intelligence to combat drug trafficking. So I am asking Acting Director Carroll to approve Oswego County’s request ASAP.”
The HIDTA program funds intelligence-sharing initiatives, drug use prevention and drug treatment initiatives, as well as general support for programs that provide assistance to law enforcement beyond their normal scope of duty.
The New York/New Jersey HIDTA is one of 28 HIDTAs nationwide, which include approximately 16 percent of all counties in the United States and 60 percent of the U.S. population.
There are currently 25 counties in New York that are part of the NY/NJ HIDTA, and Schumer wants Oswego County to be added.
Each HIDTA assesses the drug trafficking threat in its defined area for the upcoming year, develops a strategy to address that threat, designs initiatives to implement the strategy, proposes funding needed to carry out the initiatives, and prepares an annual report describing its performance the previous year.
Schumer added, “HIDTA is a critical program that I have long fought to protect. It has provided both millions of dollars and invaluable direct federal support for Upstate New York’s intelligence-sharing and drug investigation initiatives, and additionally helps improve efficiency among law enforcement.”
The petition for Oswego County to be designated a HITDA was made by a coalition of local law enforcement: the Oswego County District Attorney’s Office, Oswego City Police Department, Oswego County Sheriff’s Department, the County Drug Task Force, and SUNY Oswego’s University Police.
Schumer said that Oswego County has a population of 122,000 and that its geographical location in Upstate New York makes it an appealing and convenient location for drug traffickers.
Additionally, Schumer explained that recently, the county has been ravaged by opioids, especially dangerous drugs like fentanyl-laced heroin, which have negatively impacted Oswego’s college students and communities, and yielded an elevated rate of overdoses.
Schumer praised Oswego County and local law enforcement for their commitment and effort to fight the ongoing drug trafficking scourge in the area but added that the lack of funding and resources has made their job significantly more challenging.
Schumer said that, specifically, a HIDTA designation for Oswego County would give local law enforcement the ability to purchase key equipment, such as GPS units, investigation equipment, and TruNarc Handheld Narcotics Analyzers.
According to Schumer, these devices would both help protect officers, and help increase their ability to combat drug trafficking at the ground level.
Under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 and the ONDCP Reauthorization Act of 2006, the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy is authorized to declare areas that exhibit serious drug trafficking problems as HIDTAs if local law enforcement groups petition for the designation.
Many counties in Upstate New York are already HIDTA-designated counties, meaning that they receive federal resources to combat drug trafficking and sales.
The purpose of HIDTA is to reduce drug trafficking and production in the United States.
The program’s goal is to facilitate cooperation among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies; to share information and implement coordinated enforcement activities; to enhance intelligence sharing among law enforcement agencies as well as public health officials; to facilitate the design of effective enforcement strategies; and to support coordinated law enforcement strategies that make the most of available resources to reduce the supply of illegal drugs in the U.S.
Schumer noted his push is aimed at curbing the supply of drugs, but he said it is also important to address the demand in order to stem the tide of this epidemic.
Schumer said that treatment is also an important part of the solution, and a HIDTA designation can help strengthen treatment access by facilitating critical partnerships between public health agencies.
ONDCP and HIDTA grant funds are being used across the country for local governments and public health officials to improve overdose reporting so that they can mobilize their public health response, including the purchase of and education on Naloxone kits, in order to mitigate the number of overdoses and prevent deaths.
Designating Oswego as a HIDTA county will help provide additional support for present programs already in place.
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Yet, at the same time, the “far left progressive democrats” are calling for the elimination of ICE.
By doing so, that would seem to be highly counter-productive in the grand scheme of things concerning this issue inparticular by any reasonable observation.
Send the deadbeat free loaders back to NYC. That will take care of most of it. End HUD and DSS support for those people using and they will move on to another county. That’s a win win for all of us tax paying welfare supporting few still holding on here. Free will and the choice to use wont ever be overcome by throwing money at the problem.
Jane, they wont do that. The local landlord need them to keep their apartments fill. Probably why they are add 200 + MORE apartments in the next couple years.
re: Jane and Old Timer:
I think local law enforcement actually does a remarkable job considering the magnitude of this problem. However, additional manpower may become necesscary at some point. Just imagine how nice it would be to have the following individules working on it in their fictional or non-fictional capacity…..
Dirty Harry, Stephen Segall, The Magnificent Seven, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Kojack, Jack Lord, Marty Milner, Jack Webb, Rambo, The A-Team, Cannon, Chuck Conners, and The Duke. Yup, problem solved!
Dear Mr. Wizard I would respectfully add Charles Bronson to your list of Law Enforcement names. 🙂
Nothing in the article mentions: immigrants (let alone “illegal” immigrants), poor people, or social services.
Yet the, what shall we say, “conservatives” (to put it mildly) commenting above jump immediately to those conclusions … as if only immigrants, or only the unemployed, or only recipients of social services, are responsible for using and overdosing from heroin.
Then, of course, one could examine what the underlying reasons are for the amount of social misery in the richest country in the history of the world … but then we’d have to turn our attention to those at the top of society … and we know “conservatives” just won’t go there … conservatives will not criticize billionaires, corporations, and other elites … it’s just the poor, just the downtrodden, just the people of color from New York City who deserve our contempt according to the “conservative” worldview.
re: BRUNO…Charles Bronson was one of “The Magnificent Seven” before he went on to even greater fame as a “self appointed” crime fighter. Thank’s for responding!
re: ANONYMOUS…You can’t be serious. It’s almost a given that much of this problem actually does stem from illegal immigration and that the recipients and participants of such activity are most often the very people you discribed, regardless of race.
I mentioned ICE simply because of the role they play in all of this, and to show how the internal conflict going on within the democrat party leaders and its more progressive members seems to be at odds with each other. You really can’t have it both ways as a party, by calling for more money and “improved coordination” between law enforcment agencies, while at the same time, be calling for the elimination of ICE, (and open borders) by some of the democrat base supporting the more radical politicians such as Bernie Sanders, and others. Better get that fixed before the next election.
Re: The Wizard
No that’s just your Trumpist assertion …
The implication in all of the comments above mine amounts to: “we hardworking white people who really belong here are just fine and dandy … but those lazy people of color from somewhere else are ruining our ideal white society with their drugs and freeloading.”
We get it … there’s tens of millions of white Americans who have been programmed to think that way … and have no hesitation to voice that view publicly.
[The U.S. perpetual war in Afghanistan doesn’t have anything to do with the heroin problem? The U.S. has been in the world’s largest poppy producing country for 16 years and heroin has become a scourge … just coincidence? Let’s blame “illegal immigrants”? K]
Anonymous. …not sure where you are seeing any comment mentioning people of color. Hmmm reading into much or imposing your own personal prejudice viewpoints or clearly “liberal” thinking. Are you aware of how many drugs come through the reservations and how many people here from NYC collect “moss” and transport that to the area for “floral shops”. Regardless of whatever PC labels or beliefs you want to use money is not the answer. Chuck and company need to realize the tax base cannot support these initiatives. Yes people dying from drug overdoses are sad…seen it…but it is life. Free will cannot be managed but then again clearly some people think it can be with money
Dear Jane BRAVO 100% spot on. 🙂
Re: Jane
So when the Wizard brings up ICE … he’s talking about Anglo-Saxon illegal immigrants? Ok.
And don’t call me a liberal … I’m a democratic socialist. We’re taking over the Democratic Party and we’re coming for the billionaire oligarchs who run our society and government.
Chuck Schumer has no business leading Senate Democrats … guy’s a corporate tool.
You’ll have to do a better job explaining the moss, floral shop part of your screed … and what color, predominantly, are the “people here from NYC” who supposedly are responsible for whatever it is you’re trying to say?
I agree that people should be free to do drugs if they feel like it … my comments in no way are supportive of Schumer or the local Republican/law enforcement establishment here who are trying to create a police state, put as many people in prison as possible, and treat heroin addiction as a criminal matter rather than a public health issue.
When we institute Single-Payer after the 2020 election, that’ll go a long way towards addressing these matters.