Hagåtña – Today, Governor Eddie Calvo signed the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) petition to the White House. A HIDTA designation would provide federal support to combat drugs on island.
In June of this year, Governor Eddie Calvo signed Executive Order No. 2018-07 in support of petitioning for HIDTA designation for Guam.
“Guam has great potential but we also face hurdles – one of them being illegal drugs. This drug problem that we’re facing is ripping at the souls of our communities, and ripping families apart. HIDTA designation will help as we fight drugs and work to get in front of this situation,” said Governor Calvo.
HIDTA is a drug-prohibition enforcement program run by the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy. The federal program was created to assist federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions in the United States.
“It’s important that we bring every resource possible to the table. The collaborative efforts is what has allowed the progress we’ve made. We can achieve so much more together, if we continue to work as a team. There is no home for drugs on Guam and we need to make sure that our message is loud and clear,” said Lt. Governor Ray Tenorio.
With the leveraged monies from the Federal Government, it would assist in the promotion of inter-agency collaboration between local and federal agencies in response to eliminate drug trafficking on Guam, and surrounding areas.
“Thank you to the men and women of the Guam Police Department, and the hard work you do day in and day out to combat and interdict drugs on our island. Thank you to all our partners in the law enforcement arena — Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency, Department of Corrections, Judiciary of Guam, Office of Homeland Security/Office of Civil Defense, Guam Fire Department, federal law enforcement partners, including the US Attorney’s Office, and military law enforcement — for all coming together. It’s about everybody, not just the government, but everybody in the community coming together to address issues of drugs on our island,” said Chief of Police J.I. Cruz.
HIDTA designated counties are located in 49 states as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, and the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.
The goal as a designee is to implement the following:
- Enforcement initiatives comprising of multi-agency investigative, interdiction and prosecution activities;
- Intelligence and information sharing initiatives;
- Support for programs that provide assistance and beyond the core enforcement and intelligence and information sharing initiatives;
- Drug use prevention and drug treatment initiatives.
Local law enforcement agencies continue to remain committed to proactively interdict drugs on Guam along with the help of federal partners and the Mandaña Drug Task Force.