Intelligence
• The Regional Intelligence Center
• HIDTANET (technology)
Enforcement
• El Dorado Task Force
• Regional Fugitive Task Force
• New Jersey Drug Trafficking Organization Task Force
• New York OCDETF Strike Force
Support
• Regional Training Center
• Support Services
Prevention (non-HIDTA funded)
• Citywide Armory Project
Investigative Support Center:
The Regional Intelligence Center (“RIC”) consists of approximately 600 representatives from all the federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in the New York metropolitan area. The RIC is the central conduit for information sharing among the numerous law enforcement agencies in the region. The RIC is organized into five sections and three satellite intelligence centers:
Watch Section: The Watch Section provides law enforcement with immediate access -“one-stop shopping”- to a wide range of law enforcement and commercial databases, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. RIC analysts have access to virtually all of the law enforcement and commercial computer records. Inquiries can be run on, among other things, persons, vehicles, businesses, addresses, and telephone numbers. Each Watch query becomes a permanent record in the Information Data System (IDS) which serves as a pointer- index for all requestors of the Watch.
Borough Intelligence Section: The Borough Intelligence Section consists of investigators from the NYPD, divided geographically into eight Borough Intelligence Teams (“BITs”) throughout New York City. The mission of the BITs is to provide a comprehensive, integrated picture of crime block-by-block, precinct- by-precinct throughout New York City. Each BIT consists of one Field Intelligence Officer (“FIO”) for every precinct in that BIT's geographic area of responsibility. The BITs have access to all intelligence reports within the NYPD and their Task Forces and are responsible for providing a timely and complete criminal intelligence picture in order to effectively drive enforcement decisions.
El Dorado Money Laundering Intelligence Section (HIFCA): The Money Laundering Intelligence Section, led by ICE and IRS, is also known as the HIFCA Section (High Intensity Financial Crimes Area). The HIFCA Section is responsible for providing a comprehensive, integrated intelligence picture of drug related money laundering in the New York metropolitan area to the HIDTA El Dorado Task Force.
The Firearms Section (Regional Crime Gun Center): The Gun Center, led by ATF, is the central location for all criminal and regulatory firearm information. The Gun Center gathers and consolidates all aspects of intelligence on illegal firearms use and trafficking and makes that information available to law enforcement 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Priority Targeting Section (PTS): The Priority Targeting Section consists of investigators and analysts, and is responsible for providing a comprehensive, integrated intelligence picture of the most significant drug trafficking and other violent organizations in the New York metropolitan area. They provide case support, threat assessments, strategic reports and organizational studies to Investigators. The Priority Targeting Section also cultivates informants and cooperating witnesses and generates investigations. Once developed, these cases are referred to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for further investigation.
Satellite Intelligence Centers:
Westchester Intelligence Center New Jersey Intelligence Center Nassau County Intelligence Center Suffolk County Intelligence Center Upstate NY Regional Intelligence Center Rockland County Intelligence Center (non- HIDTA funded)
Participating Agencies:
Federal
Army National Guard, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Department of Criminal Investigative Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Reserve Bank, FinCEN, Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, United States Attorney's Offices, United States Coast Guard, United States Department of Defense/Joint Task Force-6, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development/Office of the Inspector General, United States Department of State, United States Marshals Service, United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Probation, and United States Secret Service.
State
New York: New York National Guard, New York State Banking Department, New York State Commission of Investigation, New York State Department of Corrections, New York State Department of Health and Human Services, New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Division of Parole, New York State Police, and Waterfront Commission.
New Jersey : New Jersey Attorney General's Office, New Jersey Department of Corrections, New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, New Jersey Division of Parole, New Jersey National Guard, and New Jersey State Police.
Local
New York: Bronx County District Attorney's Office, Clarkstown Police Department, Kings County District Attorney's Office, Mt. Vernon Police Department, Nassau County District Attorney's Office, Nassau County Police Department, New York City Criminal Justice Coordinator's Office, New York City Department of Correction, New York City Department of Investigation, New York City Police Department, New York County District Attorney's Office, Ocean County Sheriff's Department, Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for New York City, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Queens County District Attorney's Office, Ramapo Police Department, Richmond County District Attorney's Office, Rockland County District Attorney's Office, Rockland County Sheriff's Department, Stony Point Police Department, Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, Suffolk County Police Department, Suffolk County Probation Department, Suffolk County Sheriff's Department, Westchester County Department of Corrections, Westchester County Department of Public Safety, and Westchester County District Attorney's Office.
New Jersey: Bayonne Police Department, Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, Camden County Sheriff's Department, East Brunswick Police Department, East Orange Police Department, Elizabeth Police Department, Essex County Prosecutor's Office, Essex County Sheriff's Office, Fort Lee Police Department, Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, Mercer County Prosecutor's Office, Mercer County Sheriff's Department, Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, Newark Police Department, Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, Passaic County Sheriff's Department, and Trenton Police Department, Union City Police Department, Union County Prosecutor's Office, and Union County Sheriff's Office.
Significant Achievements:
The New York OCDETF Strike Force is a collocated, commingled Task Force dedicated exclusively to disrupting and dismantling Consolidated Priority Organizational Targets (CPOTs) and their drug trafficking organization affiliates in the New York metropolitan area.
Several law enforcement agencies, particularly DEA, FBI, NYPD, ICE and IRS, agreed to combine their independent OCDETF drug enforcement efforts under one umbrella, creating a true Strike Force, just as the OCDETF program originally envisioned over 20 years ago. The Strike Force is a model law enforcement partnership. The 230 law enforcement officers include DEA (59), FBI (31), NYPD
(34), ICE (30), IRS (30), USMS (5), OCDETF agency coordinators (including ATF and U.S. Coast Guard) (9), United States Attorneys' Offices for the Eastern and Southern District of New York (3), New York State Police (3), and New York State Banking Department (1). The members of the Strike Force are assigned to 15 enforcement groups under the direction of a DEA Associate SAC.
Each enforcement group is assigned an Intelligence Analyst from the HIDTA Regional Intelligence Center (“HIDTA RIC”). The analyst supports the group's investigations and ensures the free flow of information between and among the groups, law enforcement agencies in New York and throughout the country, and the Special Operations Division (“SOD”). The intelligence analysts work closely with the HIDTA RIC, and particularly with the CPOT Drug Intelligence Group, to provide the Strike Force with comprehensive case support, a constantly-updated list of Regional Priority Targets, and access to law enforcement databases. In turn, the Strike Force contributes intelligence from its ongoing investigations to the HIDTA RIC for support of other HIDTA investigations. In addition, the Strike Force registers all targets via a direct connection to UDECS, the state-wide deconfliction system maintained at the HIDTA RIC.
The Strike Force officially began operations in May, 2004 and is already among the finest drug enforcement task forces in the country. The Strike Force is located at Chelsea Market, which is connected by a bridge on one side to the 700-member HIDTA Regional Intelligence Center and the 130-member HIDTA Fugitive Task Force, both of which provide invaluable support to the Strike Force. On the other side of the Strike Force space, another bridge will soon be built to connect the Strike Force to the DEA's New York headquarters, thereby creating a law enforcement campus of unprecedented proportions.
By physically merging the resources and talents of the aforementioned agencies into a single, commingled, powerful Task Force dedicated to the destruction of the area's most prominent drug trafficking organizations, the opportunities to reduce the illicit drug flow to the consumer are being enhanced beyond anything achieved ever before in drug enforcement.
Since May, 2004 Strike Force CPOT investigations have already yielded $22,000,000; 23,400 pounds of marijuana; and 230 kilograms of cocaine.
