United States Drug Enforcement Administration

The Executive Board of the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking (HIDTA) has recognized the Drug Enforcement (DEA) for its role in reducing drug trafficking in the region.  The Board has awarded the annual Outstanding Cooperative Effort Award to John Cornille and Larry Fox  of the DEA St. Louis Regional Wire Intercept Center. This award is given to those who exhibit outstanding investigative results in utilizing the cooperative spirit and tenets of the HIDTA Program in the disruption of drug trafficking organizations.

On October 1, 2006, the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area established the St. Louis DEA Regional Intercept Center to provide a regionally based telecommunications strategy for implementation by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies located throughout the six-state region comprised by the DEA St. Louis Division and the Midwest HIDTA. The Center functions as a repository for all telecommunications, intelligence, and associated documents relating to Title III investigations. The RWIP develops actionable leads which are passed to offices within and outside of the DEA Saint Louis Division.

In an effort to further assist state and local law enforcement agencies, DEA St. Louis and the Center developed a Violent Crime Assistance Program. The evolution and enhancement of the Emergency Protocol intent was to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in situations where a very recent drug- related violent crime or other significant crime occurred and the suspect or victim had a cellular telephone. In this program, agencies can utilize the Centers capabilities to locate the telephone and ultimately the suspect and/or victim. The Violent Crime Assistance Program has on a number of occasions provided significant assistance to St. Louis area agencies in locating suspects, victims, and stolen property.

In FY2012 an effort was launched to exploit Internet social media sites being increasingly utilized by DTOs. A Data Analyst was given social media exploitation training and procedures were established whereby Center staff provided names of interceptees from Title III orders to be exploited. These efforts have assisted the Title III program to expand beyond traditional telephone intercepts. The Center has earned a reputation as subject matter experts in the utilization of Title III intercepts, pen registers, and PLIs for criminal investigations. This has served to solidify its standing as a respected leader in the law enforcement community and further strengthened partnerships with law enforcement counterparts. Through the St. Louis DEA Regional Wire Intercept Center, law enforcement agencies have worked cooperatively together and crimes have been solved.

“This effort is a model of the kind of collaborative, multijurisdictional, cooperation encouraged by the HIDTA program,” said HIDTA’s Executive Board. “On behalf of the Midwest HIDTA Executive Board and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, we offer congratulations on a job well done.