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Year of Designation: 1998 |
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Geographic Area of Responsibility: |
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Texas: |
Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Henderson, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Lubbock, Navarro, Parker, Rockwall, Smith and Tarrant Counties.
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Oklahoma: |
Cleveland, Comanche, Muskogee, Sequoyah, Oklahoma, and Tulsa Counties. |
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Contact: |
(972) 915-9500 |
Mission Statement:
The mission of the North Texas HIDTA is to reduce the availability of illicit drugs and drug related violence by creating intelligence driven task forces aimed at attacking, dismantling, and destroying drug trafficking organizations operating in this region and impacting other areas of the country.
Threat Abstract:
The North Texas HIDTA is a national transshipment and distribution region for drugs arriving from Mexico, destined for northern Texas and Oklahoma as well as other areas within the United States. Drug traffickers use the North Texas HIDTA region for the transport, storage, and distribution of illicit drugs, exploiting its transportation infrastructure to facilitate the movement of illicit drugs. Numerous interstate highways and roadways that support a high volume of traffic transect Oklahoma as well as Texas. Oklahoma's unique geographical location contributes to its role as a major transshipment supplier of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of methamphetamine. The international air and land transportation corridors further facilitate the movement of illicit drugs through the North Texas HIDTA region. Drug trafficking groups primarily transport their product into and through northern Texas and Oklahoma using Interstates 20, 30, 35, and 45. Interstates 35 and 40 provide north/south and east/west passage through Oklahoma. This collective highway system effectively provides ready access to and from the Texas/Mexico border and into and through the North Texas HIDTA region. The Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is one of the busiest in the world, affording traffickers a major transshipment facility for drug cargo arriving internationally as well as for couriers transporting shipments to other cities throughout the United States. Traffickers also take advantage of the vast and growing population of the Dallas/Fort Worth region, one of the largest and most
ethnically diverse metropolitan areas in the nation.
Methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana all pose serious drug threats to the North Texas HIDTA region. However, the growing and continuing abuse, availability, production, and trafficking of methamphetamine constitutes the greatest concern in the area. Seizures of small-scale clandestine laboratories are increasingly common, particularly in rural locations throughout northern Texas and Oklahoma. Increased availability, addiction potential, and health hazards, coupled with the associated violence and dangers of methamphetamine production and costly cleanup operations associated with clandestine laboratory residue, make this substance particularly harmful.
Cocaine, both powder and crack, are readily available and continue to be a primary drug threat. As with the other major drugs, the Dallas/Fort Worth area is considered a wholesale distribution and transshipment center for cocaine. Abundant supply, high purity and stable prices contribute to the persistent availability and abuse of this drug. Most of the cocaine produced in Colombia is transported through Mexico and into the United States and is distributed primarily by Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations.
Widespread availability and a growing potential market of young users make heroin a serious threat to the North Texas HIDTA region. Mexican black tar is the most commonly encountered type of heroin, followed by Mexican brown heroin. The Dallas/Fort Worth area of the North Texas HIDTA region serves as a transshipment point from sources south of the border in Mexico, as well as a consumer base for both of these substances.
Marijuana is the most commonly abused and trafficked drug in the North Texas HIDTA region. The omnipresent threat of marijuana lies primarily in its widespread availability, popularity, and its general misperception as a �harmless� drug. It is the drug of choice for many adults and adolescents alike. In addition to the abundant supply of foreign grown marijuana, domestically cultivated cannabis is available as well.
Money resulting from drug trafficking is often smuggled in bulk shipments to Mexico via tractor-trailer, privately owned vehicles, parcel delivery services and couriers. Other methods preferred by money launderers include the use of seemingly legitimate businesses and wire transfers.
Strategy Abstract:
The strategy of the North Texas HIDTA is to accomplish its mission of reducing the availability of illicit drugs and drug related violence, through the following elements:
1) Wide participation by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in all North Texas HIDTA initiatives - during FY-2004 law enforcement agencies will contribute approximately 162 personnel to the North Texas HIDTA region for assignments on investigative and intelligence initiatives.
2) The operation of a well managed HIDTA program, led by an Executive Board, and implemented by the HIDTA Director and staff, to provide support for each initiative to accomplish their identified goals, which will thereby accomplish the mission of the North Texas HIDTA and Office of National Drug Control Policy.
3) The collocation and commingling of the majority of the task forces along with the Regional Intelligence Support Center within a central operations facility. Oklahoma task forces are collocated in three locations; two in Oklahoma City and one in Tulsa.
4) The operation of a Regional Intelligence Support Center and Oklahoma Intelligence Center to provide threat assessment, deconfliction coordination, and full
intelligence support to the North Texas HIDTA initiatives, as well as all law enforcement in the North Texas/Oklahoma region.
Investigative Support Center:
The Regional Intelligence Support Center (RISC), co-managed by DEA and the Dallas Police Department and staffed with intelligence analysts and officers from a variety of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. It provides comprehensive case support, database checks and deconfliction services. This work is completed for HIDTA initiatives, member agencies and area law enforcement departments.
The RISC Watch Center is designed primarily to enhance officer safety by providing deconfliction of subjects and drug operations to all law enforcement agencies within the region. This center provides over 4,600 event and subject deconflictions a year for law enforcement agencies in the North Texas HIDTA region.
RISC Tactical/Case Support staff also directly supports the North Texas HIDTA investigative initiatives by identifying major drug trafficking organizations and providing analysis of the patterns and trends of these organizations. Last year 491 intelligence profiles were prepared and over 17,900 database searches conducted.
The RISC provides research for North Texas HIDTA initiatives, has access to all major law enforcement intelligence systems and public information databases, provides specific case support to the North Texas HIDTA investigative initiatives, and promotes participation by area law enforcement agencies. The North Texas HIDTA RISC also operates intelligence subsystems in East Texas (Tyler) and Oklahoma City. These centers work in
conjunction with the RISC and provide similar services to their respective regions.
Participating Agencies:
