Understaffing Hampers LE Agencies Combatting N.H. Drug Trafficking

Former Brentwood Police Chief Ellen Arcieri knows how much street-level drug deals can devastate small towns and tax understaffed police departments.

Arcieri, commander of the New Hampshire Attorney General's Drug Task Force, spoke before a U.S. Senate subcommittee field hearing held in the Manchester Millyard on Monday morning. Many local police departments face critical officer shortages and constant turnover, which makes it hard to fight the drug trade, she said.

The task force gives $60,000 to police departments that provide investigators, but that doesn't nearly cover the cost of salary, benefits, training and equipment.

The street level investigations can lead to larger trafficking cases, Arcieri said, mentioning two drug users found to be responsible for distributing 182,000 bags of heroin and fentanyl in the course of a year. Many go back to offending after receiving suspended sentences, she said.

"Because of the critical shortage of law enforcement in New Hampshire, the majority of police departments cannot provide support due to the need of providing coverage and services to their own communities," she said.

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, chair of the Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight Subcommittee, hosted the hearing on the impacts of drug trafficking, which is a nationwide issue. The hearing, at the University of New Hampshire Manchester campus, addressed Mexican drug trafficking, dark-web drug trafficking, counterfeit pills and drug trafficking through the mail.

"We must secure our Southern border, making sure our border security and law enforcement personnel have the resources and support they need," she said.

Hassan, who previously traveled to China and the Mexican border to learn about drug trafficking, recently introduced bipartisan legislation to increase penalties for drug dealers and strengthen the United States' efforts to crack down on illegal drug trafficking through the dark web, according to the senator's office.

Traffickers raise stakes

Jon DeLena, deputy special agent in charge at the Drug Enforcement Administration's New England Field Division, said drug overdoses claimed the lives of 104,000 Americans last year. The country is at a "critical moment" in addressing the drug epidemic, he said.

He talked about a Mexican drug cartel selling "fake pills" designed to look like Adderall and other prescription drugs and laced with methamphetamine, which are being bought by college students and younger Americans.

"These drugs are flooding our communities in record amounts. The model of the drug cartels right now is simple: relentless expansion and addiction," he said.

"They simply don't care if Americans die. They only want to reach more Americans in unprecedented ways."

Matthew Millhollin, special agent in charge of the Boston office of Homeland Security Investigations, said the agency works to track financial transactions to address Mexican drug trafficking.

"We can't interdict or seize our way out of this problem. We really have to attack those financial networks, take out the assets that these drug cartels have to really affect them," he said. The agency faces challenges in recruiting and retaining vetting agents in Mexico who specialize in such work.

Chemicals used to make fentanyl — "precursor chemicals" — are being sent to Mexico from China but could shift to other countries such as India, he said.

Transnational criminal organizations continue to expand and produce drugs hard to detect and legally enforce, said Michael Manning, assistant director field operations for the Boston field office of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

He said 264 shipments headed to New Hampshire were seized in fiscal year 2021, as opposed to 181 seizures the year before, a 45% increase. Most involved prescription opioid medication, such as oxycodone.

___

Visit The New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.) at www.unionleader.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.