BUFFALO, N.Y. — To help combat the rising rates of drug-related violence in communities across America, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced a new initiative, Operation Overdrive. Among other communities across the nation, Buffalo will be one of 34 cities part of phase one.
This initiative is the result of a data-drive approach by the DEA and CDC to identify hot spots where criminal drug networks are causing the most harm. In New York State, those hot spots include Buffalo and New York City.
Operation Overdrive was launched on Feb. 1 and uses a data-driven, intelligence-led approach to identify and dismantle criminal drug networks in the communities the program is focusing on.
“DEA’s objective is clear,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “DEA will bring all it has to bear to make our communities safer and healthier, and to reverse the devastating trends of drug-related violence and overdoses plaguing our Nation. The gravity of these threats requires a data-driven approach to pinpoint the most dangerous networks threatening our communities, and leveraging our strongest levers across federal, state, and local partners to bring them down.”
The operation has identified that a majority of criminal drug networks are engaging in gun violence and sell fentanyl or methamphetamine.
“The consequences of drug trafficking have become evidently clear in New York, increased overdoses, crime, and violence. While we will continue to target the world’s most prolific drug traffickers, DEA will initiate Operation Overdrive in two cities: Buffalo, NY and New York City. By working with our law enforcement partners, DEA utilizes its many resources to seize illegal drugs and guns from the streets and remove violent drug organizations from neighborhoods within these cities,” said DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge, New York Division Timothy Foley.