The DEA and Gang Involvement in Drug Trafficking - Essay Example

In response to the alarming increase in the gangs’ involvement in drug activities, the U.S Federal Government established a number of agencies charged with the main responsibility of overseeing the cessation of these gang drug trafficking. One of the most active agencies is the Drug Enforcement Administration. The DEA was established in 1973 under the regime of President Nixon. Its main role was to oversee the control of drug activities. Since its establishment, the agency has employed various strategies in combating the issue of gang involvement in drug trafficking.

In 1995, the DEA established a Mobile Enforcement Team that was aimed at addressing the spread of the drug trafficking among other associated crimes in the rural and urban areas perpetrated by organized gangs. Although the program was temporary halted in 2007 due to insufficient funding, it was reinstalled in 2008. Since then, the program continues to be effective in conducting investigations pertaining to the supply of drugs in the streets. The program comprises of a team of eight agents each operating in ten DEA field divisions across the country.

White explains that because of the small budget, as well as the limited personnel, the DEA usually works with intermediaries who develop drug prevention programs, in the attempt to maximize the effects of its efforts. One of the most common intermediaries includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In curbing the menace, the DEA has identified five national priorities for its demand-reduction efforts, which include; minority and high-risk youths, sports drug awareness programs, user accountability programs, training for law enforcement personnel, and the development of community based coalitions and alliances.

Additionally, in the attempt to improve its efforts in combating gang drug trafficking, the DEA also tend to include other activities such as organizing for school visiting programs aimed at increasing awareness of the menace. Moreover, they also conduct regular visits in about 100 drugs seminars in the workplaces annually and subsequently working with communities to adopt programs that can be deemed effective. According to White (2008), in the quest to dismantle and subsequently disrupt organized gang involvement in drug trafficking, another DEA’s strategy involved the identification of the most vulnerable areas where gangs’ activities are imminent.

As such, some of the areas that DEA has identified include the Southwest Border that poses almost a triple threat of illegal gangs and drug violence. This is consequently followed by the mobilization of its limited resources to these areas targeting drug cartels operating along the borders. In addition, the DEA also employs the use of enforcement operations like the Drug Flow Attack Strategy that aims at preventing gang related drug crimes and violence from spilling over the Southwest Border into the larger U.S border. Leveraging interagency partnerships has also been another strategy that the DEA has undertaken.

This involves working with major agencies such as the Border Enforcement Security Task Force that target gang activities by improving investigations and flow of information regarding the violent criminal organizations and gang operations. White (2008) present that one of the most successful operations of the DEA in preventing and gang organized drug trafficking