Federal and local law enforcement agencies are joining forces with a new San Antonio task force aimed at investigating fentanyl overdoses, tracking down the people supplying the drug and targeting violence tied to its distribution.
The DEA-led Overdose Task Force will bring together the Drug Enforcement Administration, Texas Department of Public Safety, San Antonio Police Department, Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, UT San Antonio Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI.
The new effort will operate under the umbrella of the South Texas Homeland Security Task Force, a broader federal initiative created by the Trump administration last year to coordinate investigations into cartels and other transnational criminal organizations.
U.S. Attorney Justin Simmons said the two efforts are intended to target different levels of the drug trade, with the newly established task force focusing more closely on local distribution and overdose investigations while the broader Homeland Security Task Force targets trafficking networks bringing drugs into the United States.
Ben Post, DEA assistant special agent in charge of the San Antonio division, said that while the number of overdose deaths nationally continues to decrease, there is still work that needs to be done.
Some of that work took place last month when the new task force carried out its first operation, targeting suspected fentanyl distribution from several homes in the 1000 block of Torreon Street on San Antonio’s West Side.
Simmons said the homes were located within 1,000 feet of an elementary school and less than a mile from a high school. The task force executed search warrants on three homes following an investigation that led to three arrests. All three individuals now face federal charges of possession with intent to distribute narcotics.
Authorities said the searches turned up fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin, along with several firearms. Investigators also found scales and baggies they said were consistent with drug distribution.
SAPD says its officers are responding to about 150 overdose calls each month.
Police Chief Jesse Salame said SAPD is dedicating five detectives with narcotics and homicide experience to the task force.
“That gives us an opportunity to take what we learn from these overdose calls and turn it into investigations that can identify the people responsible for putting these dangerous drugs into our community,” Salame said.
Simmons said that the opportunity created by pooling resources is one of the key benefits of bringing the agencies together under a task force.
“I think all these individual agencies are aware that fentanyl is a problem, and they’ve been working against it,” he said. “But being able to combine our efforts in this way really makes us much more effective than maybe we would have been individually.”
“The drug trade also brings violence into our neighborhoods, so when we disrupt that supply and hold those responsible accountable, we’re not only addressing a quality of life issue, we’re also addressing an underlying driver of violence,” Salame said. “Our goal is simple: save lives, disrupt the supply chain of dangerous drugs, hold those responsible accountable, and keep San Antonio safe.”
Post, with the DEA, echoed that connection, saying drug distribution is often tied to violent criminal organizations and that targeting those groups could serve both goals of reducing overdose deaths and violent crime.
“By going after these organizations, we’re not only removing the poison that’s causing these overdose deaths, but we’re putting people who are violently inclined behind bars,” Post said.
