SAN FERNANDO : Federal Anti-Drug Unit Disbanded
Less than a year after San Fernando voters authorized the leasing of a city office to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the federal agency has vacated the facility and disbanded a San Fernando Valley-wide drug task force based there.
Federal authorities in January agreed to disband the Valley Task Force, about 18 months after it was started in the former San Fernando city police headquarters, said Mike Holm, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA office in Los Angeles.
Holm said 10 federal drug enforcement officers were moved back to their downtown Los Angeles office to focus on large, international investigations, rather than local drug dealers.
The DEA faces a $48-million deficit for the coming fiscal year, he said, and the move is part of a wave of consolidation for the agency.
Although some law enforcement officials expressed disappointment with the decision, Holm said agents will continue work on Valley-area cases.
Other agencies in the task force--which included the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles and San Fernando police departments, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and the Internal Revenue Service--will continue to exchange information on narcotics cases, Holm said.
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