Southeastern Police Community Relations Council

National HIDTA (High Intense Drug Traffic Area)

National HIDTA (High Intense Drug Traffic Area) for Baltimore and DC Proposed Budget for 2006 (Word)

From this document, we have pulled out a very important paragraph and bolded the reason why we must take action to not allow the HIDTA agency to be cut back. Indeed, HIDTA is supportive of not only our various police divisions, but also impacts our communities on a very personal level. For example, HIDTA supports our Operation Crime Watch. In the city of Baltimore alone, we now have over 5000 signed and active citizens who report criminal activity. This program provides a safe way for individuals to be a part of taking back their communities in a safe way.

" The impact for the Administration‚s proposal for the National HIDTA Program will affect each HIDTA region deleteriously. The Washington/Baltimore HIDTA has led efforts to address the drug threat posed to residents of northern Virginia, southern Maryland, and the Washington, DC, and Baltimore metropolitan areas, using the National HIDTA Program funds to support effective and innovation interagency efforts in the fields of drug enforcement and intelligence, drug treatment for drug offenders, and drug prevention services for at-risk youth. The loss of these funds would do irreparable harm to many of these efforts and seriously weaken the ability of the region‚s public safety and criminal justice agencies to protect local communities from drug related threats. "

To give you some other ideas of what HIDTA has done:

Helped pull together information from the various law enforcement agencies to help with the sniper incident that we had in our region.
Mapping and evaluations for drug trafficking
Has a strong network that helps our various agencies plan strategic plans to combat drug activity.

If this program is eliminated at the local and state level, the resources would essentially remain at the federal levels.

Please contact your state legislators, and Congressional representatives and urge them to support the funding of this program.

Please pass this along and stress the importance of letting your representatives know that this program can not be cut back.

Listed are some links to help you with the addresses and other contact information.

To locate your Congres sional representatives:

For Senators Sarbanes and Milkulski

Letter sent to Senator Sarbanes

Response from Senator Sarbanes