City, county officials relaunch drug task force
A collaborative task force aimed at disrupting the flow of illegal drugs in Las Vegas and San Miguel County will soon relaunch with support from prosecutors and area law enforcement agencies.
The Las Vegas Police Department, San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office and the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s office have agreed to work together to reinstitute the Region IV Narcotics Task Force, with the goal of arresting and prosecuting illegal drug dealers and traffickers in the area. The relaunch also comes with three new positions within LVPD, according to Mayor Louis Trujillo.
“We’ve identified and funded three new positions for the city police,” Trujillo said. “Those positions are strictly going to be drug enforcement.”
Details of the new positions are still being worked out, and candidates are being reviewed, but Trujillo said he hopes to fill the slots soon.
The Region IV Narcotics Task Force ceased operation in 2020, shortly after Trujillo took office for reasons he attributes to a lack of funding and “organizational” reasons.
Trujillo said the new iteration of the task force is positioned to succeed because drug enforcement has the full support of Las Vegas City Council, the DA’s office, and local law enforcement.
“This is a front-burner issue for all of us,” Trujillo said.
To support the effort, city council has allocated funding from its general fund, Trujillo said. That funding has been earmarked specifically for the police department’s drug enforcement initiatives, including salaries for the three new LVPD positions.
Chief of Police Antonio Salazar told the Optic he’s confident the task force will succeed because of the willing collaboration between area agencies and departments.
“We haven’t had that in a long time — especially with the collaboration of the city, the county, the DA’s office and other outside agencies,” Salazar said. “Collectively, we put our heads together to bring this back.”
Salazar said the community can expect to see the department increase undercover narcotics and targeted-arrest operations. He also expects more warrants to be issued, and for multiple agencies to work together when serving those warrants.
The task force will also be focusing specifically on parts of Las Vegas that have seen an increase in overall crime.
“All of our problem areas, related to drugs or any type of crime … those are the ones that we’re targeting,” Salazar said.
City and county officials are also working to bring a Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program to the area. The nationwide program, first launched in Seattle in 2011, allows those with substance use disorders to have criminal charges related to addiction diverted while they get treatment, or help with housing or employment.
The program is generally not available to those accused of selling narcotics, and according to Salazar, the task force will not be focusing on people struggling with addiction.
“That’s not who we’re targeting. We’re targeting the traffickers, those who are pushing (drugs) through the community,” he said.
Fourth Judicial District Attorney Tom Clayton told the Optic his office wants to offer help to anyone struggling with substance use, but when it comes to those dealing drugs in the community, he said he plans to prosecute them and hold them accountable.
Trujillo said he believes the prosecution of dealers and traffickers will aid the mission of the LEAD program by removing more drugs from the streets, thereby reducing the availability of narcotics in the community.
“My expectation of the task force is to concentrate on enforcement of illegal drugs coming into our area,” Trujillo said. “We want to arrest the people who are selling drugs and ruining so many lives.”
It’s a sentiment shared by Clayton who said a significant problem plaguing the community is overdoses from fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is often disguised as or mixed with another narcotic.
“Some of these narcotics are literally poison,” Clayton said. “Fentanyl is killing folks within our community, and drug dealers are making money off the misery of human beings.”
