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High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Areas Initiative
In 1988, the acronym HIDTA was coined and became a funding mechanism
for federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in various
parts of the United States which qualified as High Intensity
Drug Trafficking Areas. Under the auspices of the HIDTA, two
separate units have been formed which fall within the Detective
Bureau:
- HIDTA Major Drug Squads - HIDTA is a group of seven
(7) individual squads made up of officers/agents from a
multitude of various federal, state and local agencies.
Each squad is supervised by a supervisor from one of the
various participating agencies. The primary focus of the
HIDTA Major Drug Squads is to disrupt, through investigation
and enforcement, major drug trafficking rings operating
through Houston at an international level.
- Narcotics Intelligence/Gang Violence Tracking Unit
- The Narcotics Intelligence/Gang Violence Tracking Unit
(NI/GVTU) is a grant funded by the Federal Government through
the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). The Unit?s
purpose is to develop information on narcotics trafficking,
as well as intelligence on violent gangs, that may or may
not be involved with narcotics. The Unit is presently closely
associated with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
A computer database is maintained which contains all the
intelligence gathered by the unit and networks with other
agencies intelligence databases in the area.
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