MAYOR DESTEFANO & POLICE CHIEF ORTIZ ANNOUNCE NARCOTICS TASK FORCE PARTNERSHIP

(4/2/2007)

NEW HAVEN POLICE OFFICERS TO WORK WITH STATE POLICE IN HANDLING OF NARCOTICS INVESTIGATIONS

New Haven: In a press conference today, Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. and Police Chief Francisco Ortiz, alongside Colonel Thomas Davoren, announced the implementation of a partnership between the New Haven Police Department and State Police to takeover Narcotics investigations in the city. The two agencies will collaborate as part of a task force, sharing the responsibility and oversight of narcotics enforcement. The taskforce will be led by supervisors from both the NHPD and the State.

The main goal of the taskforce is to have both agencies work together as a team bringing together the resources, expertise and problem solving capabilities they each have to benefit the New Haven community. The taskforce, which will be effective beginning tomorrow, will ensure that narcotics enforcement activities continue uninterrupted and that pressure is applied on those individuals suspected of narcotics trafficking.

“Narcotics enforcement is key to achieving safe neighborhoods,” said DeStefano. “This partnership is patterned upon past successes and I look forward to continued declines in our crime rates.”

“This partnership will bring increased narcotics enforcement activity to New Haven,” said Assistant Chief Herman Badger. “We will reduce drug trafficking in this city by identifying key players and working with prosecutors to ensure maximum penalties allowed by law.”

Despite the dismantling of the narcotics unit in the NHPD last month, narcotics arrest activity has gone uninterrupted and have increased substantially. “A significant amount of narcotics related arrests are done at the patrol level,” said Badger. “That is something that has been continuous and something that we will keep up.”

State Police have engaged in successful partnerships with other cities and towns similar to this task force where they have focused on tackling issues of auto theft, narcotics and gang violence. Amongst its most noteworthy is the violence task force implemented in Hartford that led to sharp declines in that city’s homicides and other violent crimes.

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Contact Name: Jessica Mayorga

Contact Email: jmayorga@newhavenct.net

Contact Phone: 203-946-7660