On June 21, the Kansas City-based Midwest High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Investigative Support Center was named the top HIDTA in the nation by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, besting 26 other centers nationwide at an awards program in Washington, D.C.
Staffed by several KCPD members, Midwest HIDTA was recognized for providing critical intelligence linkages that support federal, state and local law enforcement officers. They supported 890 investigations in 2010, a 33 percent increase over the previous year. Several of these investigations were massive in scale, spreading across the United States and Mexico. These were organizations that dump literally tons of drugs into the Kansas City area and throughout the Midwest. The intelligence gathered and analyzed by the local Investigative Support Center led to the identity and arrest of key players in several of these drug-trafficking organizations and the seizure of thousands of pounds of narcotics.
Our Investigative Support Center also has helped law enforcement agencies nationwide who intercept drugs transported by traffickers share information with each other. This helps target the larger-scale national and international organizations that funnel in the drugs that can destroy urban neighborhoods.
Congratulations to Midwest HIDTA Investigative Support Center and the officers who work there, proving once again that some of the best cops in the United States are right here at KCPD.
Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.
