Joseph O. Dixon
Joseph O. Dixon serves as the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Detroit Field Division and is a member of the Senior Executive Service. He assumed this role on October 5, 2025. As SAC, Mr. Dixon oversees all DEA operations throughout Michigan, Ohio, and northern Kentucky.
Before his current assignment, Mr. Dixon served as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) of the DEA St. Louis Field Division beginning in November 2023, where he directed enforcement operations across eastern and southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois. Prior to that, in October 2022, he was appointed as an Inspector within DEA’s Inspections Division, Office of Professional Responsibility, where he investigated allegations of misconduct involving DEA employees and contractors.
In December 2019, Mr. Dixon became the Senior Supervisory Special Agent of the Grand Rapids District Office, overseeing five offices across Michigan. In that capacity, he spearheaded a violent crime and strategic intelligence initiative within his area of responsibility and served as the HIDTA Task Force Commander for western Michigan.
Earlier, in August 2019, Mr. Dixon was selected to lead the Department of Justice’s Operation Relentless Pursuit/Operation LeGend violent crime initiative in Detroit. Under his leadership, the initiative received national recognition for successfully arresting and prosecuting some of Detroit’s most violent offenders.
From July 2016 to May 2018, Mr. Dixon served on the DEA Administrator’s Executive Protection Detail, later becoming the Acting Unit Chief. In this capacity, he advised the DEA Administrator and Principal Deputy Administrator on all matters related to executive protection and physical security, both domestically and abroad.
Mr. Dixon’s earlier assignments include service with the DEA Miami Field Division beginning in February 2011, where he led complex investigations targeting transnational criminal networks, violent organizations, and corrupt officials. He also served in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos as part of a counter-drug initiative, acting as the DEA liaison to the Royal Bahamas Police Force on U.S. drug enforcement matters.
Mr. Dixon began his DEA career in October 2010 as a Special Agent in the Detroit Field Division, where he led multiple violent crime initiatives targeting some of the most prolific criminal organizations in the Detroit metropolitan area.
Before joining the DEA, Mr. Dixon served as a police officer and detective with a Detroit-area police department for eight years, four of which he was assigned to the DEA as a Task Force Officer.
Mr. Dixon holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Eastern Michigan University. He is also a graduate of the University of Virginia’s Leadership Program and the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police Executive and New Chiefs School.