Sgt. Nelson Rohena of the San Juan Municipal Police Department received the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program award for excellence for his outstanding support work with the program’s efforts in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
“Smart law enforcement is a vital component of our efforts to reduce drug use and its consequences in America,” Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy, said in a press release issued Thursday.
“I commend the men and women at the Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands HIDTA for their commitment to making our communities healthier and safer,” Kerlikowske said. “Each of them – often at great personal cost – is devoted to their nation and their communities, and we owe them all our thanks for what they do every day.”
According to the press release, Rohena’s efforts contributed to the achievement and increased cooperation among law enforcement agencies. These relationships have been instrumental in fostering cooperation through educational sharing, investigative technique sharing and joint working relationships.
Created by Congress in 1988, the HIDTA program provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug trafficking regions of the United States. Law enforcement organizations within HIDTA assess drug-trafficking problems and design specific initiatives to decrease the production, transportation, distribution and chronic use of drugs and money laundering.
There are currently 28 HIDTAs, which include approximately 16 percent of all counties in the United States and 60 percent of the U.S. population. HIDTA-designated counties are located in 46 states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C.
The rate of current use of illicit drugs among Americans today is roughly one-third the rate in the late 1970s. More recently, the rate of current cocaine use has dropped by 50 percent, and the rate of current methamphetamine use in America has been cut by one-third.
In Fiscal Year 2013, the Obama Administration requested more than $10 billion for drug education and treatment and more than $9 billion for drug-related law enforcement efforts in the United States.
