DEA and Kansas Law Enforcement Partners Join Together to Find Drug Traffickers behind Overdoses
Northeast Kansas One Pill Can Kill Initiative Aims to Reduce the Supply of Deadly Counterfeit Fentanyl Pills
TOPEKA, Kans. – The Drug Enforcement Administration St. Louis Division announced today an intelligence data-driven operation with local law enforcement partners in northeast Kansas to address the alarming increase in overdose events caused by counterfeit pills with fentanyl.
Statistics collected about overdoses and overdose deaths in the region indicated shortcomings in pursuing counterfeit pills and fentanyl investigations. The Northeast Kansas One Pill Can Kill Initiative aims to gather data from these overdose events to help combat the drug trafficking organizations operating in the area.
“Kansas hasn’t escaped the deadly impact counterfeit pills are having on communities nationwide,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael A. Davis, head of the DEA division that includes the states of Kansas and Missouri. “Unfortunately, rural police departments often don’t have the manpower or resources to investigate overdoses. Working together by sharing intelligence gathered by law enforcement officers, though, will help us target and arrest the people distributing these deadly fake pills.”
“We expect that a community data-driven, intelligence-led approach to addressing the increasing numbers of overdose events will effectively identify the criminals behind the illegal drugs in this region,” said Dan Neill, director of Midwest High Intensity Drug Threat Area. “The data we collect creates a picture of the linkages between the overdose events, ultimately decreasing the number of events.”
“Our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners invest countless hours into investigating the unlawful distribution of dangerous and often deadly fentanyl-laced pills,” said Criminal Division Chief Carrie Capwell, U.S. Attorney’s Office – District of Kansas. “We as prosecutors have a continued commitment to supporting these officers, by seeking to bring individuals peddling poison within our communities to justice, and hopefully as a result, save lives.”
Counterfeit pills have become so common that DEA issued a public safety alert in September 2021 to warn the public about the danger from fentanyl. Four in 10 pills examined by DEA labs contain a deadly amount of fentanyl, an amount that can fit on the tip of a pencil.
In addition to targeting the drug trafficking networks behind overdose events, DEA and its partners hope to reduce the demand for these illegal drugs through community awareness of the danger.
Partners in the One Pill Can Kill Initiative are:
- Auburn Police Department
- Baldwin Police Department
- Coffey County Sheriff’s Office
- Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office
- Emporia Police Department
- Garnett Police Department
- Geary County Sheriff’s Office
- Horton Police Department
- Midwest HIDTA
- Jackson KS County Attorney
- Jackson KS County Sheriff’s Office
- Junction City Police Department
- Kansas Bureau of Investigations
- Kansas Highway Patrol
- Kansas State University
- Kansas University
- Lawrence Police Department
- Lyon County Sheriff’s Office
- Osage County Sheriff’s Office
- Prairie Band Pottawatomie Police Department
- Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office
- Riley County Police Department
- Shawnee County District Attorney
- Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office
- Shawnee County Medical Examiner
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Kansas
- Wamego Police Department
- Washburn University Police Department
