United States Drug Enforcement Administration

DEA announces launch of Project Safeguard

Operation intensifies DEA’s efforts to combat drug-related violent crime  

WASHINGTON – Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea today announced that the DEA will direct resources to help reduce violent crime in communities throughout the country.  Under this initiative, called Project Safeguard, DEA will identify and prioritize ongoing drug trafficking investigations with a nexus to violent crime.

 “Drug trafficking and violent crime are inextricably linked,” said Acting Administrator Shea.  “From the extreme levels of violence in Mexican cartels, to the open air drug markets in American cities, drug traffickers employ violence, fear, and intimidation to ply their trade.  Neighborhoods across our country are terrorized by violent drug trafficking organizations that have little regard for human life, and profit from the pain and suffering of our people. Along with our law enforcement partners, DEA is committed to safeguarding the health and safety of our communities.”

“Drug trafficking is not a victimless crime,” said Special Agent in Charge Bill Bodner. The violent crime that is associated with drug trafficking permeates throughout every community and impacts the quality of life of our residents. Street gangs continue to be the primary retail-level distributors of illicit drugs which spread violence in our neighborhoods.”

Working in collaboration with our federal, state, and local partners, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals Service, DEA’s Project Safeguard will comprise three focus areas to address the growing violent crime threat in many cities across the United States:

• Disrupting, dismantling, and destroying the most significant violent drug trafficking organizations throughout the United States;
• Increasing collaboration with ATF to ensure effective federal prosecution of firearms traffickers associated with drug trafficking organizations; and
• Prioritizing the capture of DEA fugitives who employ violence as part of drug trafficking.

The traffickers that flood our communities with deadly drugs, including opioids, heroin, fentanyl, meth and cocaine, are often the same criminals responsible for the high rates of assault, murder, and gang activity in our cities.  These criminals employ fear, violence, and intimidation to traffic drugs, and in doing so, exacerbate a drug crisis that claims more than 70,000 American lives every year.  DEA is committed to treating these crimes as homicides, where appropriate.

In recent months, violent crime has spiked in numerous cities and regions around the country, and drug trafficking is responsible, in part, for this violence.  In our area, DEA has seen an increase in violent crime and is focusing our efforts on improving the quality of life for our communities.  

Since it began in August 2020, Project Safeguard in the Los Angeles Field Division has resulted in 29 cases, the arrest of five DEA fugitives, and 22 seized firearms. In one investigation, individuals associated with the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) were in Los Angeles attempting to procure high-grade military weapons for use in Mexico against rival cartels and the government.

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Los Angeles Field Division is the 2nd largest division in DEA and responsible for the seven largest counties in Southern California—Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, as well as the states of Nevada (Las Vegas/Reno), and Hawaii (Oahu/Maui), and the U. S. Territories of Guam and Saipan.