Northwest Virginia Regional Drug and Gang Task Force releases 2022 year end report

The Northwest Virginia Regional Drug and Gang Task Force, a HIDTA-funded initiative comprised of law enforcement personnel from Clarke, Frederick, Page, and Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Departments, Front Royal, Luray, Strasburg, and Winchester Police Departments, and the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Culpeper Field Office, has released its 2022 year-end report. The report details the task force’s mission and objectives for 2022, which included identifying, investigating, and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations, monitoring and bringing to justice members of violent gangs, and reducing crimes related to the manufacture, distribution, and possession of fentanyl, heroin, powder cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, and prescription drugs. The task force’s successes were measured by the eradication of critical threats, including gang-related offenses, and the reduction of overdose deaths and injuries in the region.

The report also provided details on the task force’s successful outcomes and seizures from drug and gang-related investigations conducted in 2022. The task force seized a total of $1,899,043.97 worth of illegal drugs, including cocaine, crack cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana, and seized $182,567.00 worth of assets and 42 firearms. The task force also made 191 felony arrests and indictments and identified, dismantled, and disrupted six drug trafficking organizations.

The task force’s 2022 operating budget was $127,146.33, and it received $157,500.00 in federal funding from the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA. The HIDTA funded administrative positions, such as an administrative assistant, criminal intelligence analyst, and SAUSA (Special Assistant United States Attorney), and provided support for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations operating in the Northern Shenandoah Valley. Frederick County (Designated 2016) and Warren County (Designated 2019) were considered HIDTAs by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.