Stearns County Designed as a “HIDTA” County

Stearns County, through the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office, has received designation as a “HIDTA” county through the Office of National Drug Control Policy. HIDTA stands for High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

The Central Minnesota region has seen an increase in trafficking of controlled substances over the years both locally and as a central distribution point for the State of Minnesota. The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office had applied in the past for HIDTA designation and was successfully selected this year by the ONDCP as one of only 5 locations in the United States to receive this. Beltrami County in Northern Minnesota was also one of the 5 selected.

Stearns County will now be part of the North Central HIDTA group. This consists of numerous agencies from both Minnesota and Wisconsin. The designation means that Stearns County will have access to federal intelligence analysts, federally funded training for the task force and other law enforcement officers, and federal funding options to collectively investigate and arrest those that choose to deal in controlled substances.

Partnering and collectively sharing information is a key to the program and to building criminal cases against drug trafficking organizations. Stearns County Sheriff Steve Soyka says unfortunately, Stearns County’s location in Central Minnesota allows it to be a hub or distribution point for the trafficking of controlled substances. He says they’ve seen an increase in methamphetamine over the years along with a recent explosion of Fentanyl pills.

Sheriff Soyka says with that comes the trafficking throughout Minnesota but also the tragedy of overdoses – sometimes fatally. He says fortunately this designation and program will open doors for them to better investigate and collaborate with other agencies to combat the drug problem and to hold those accountable who poison our communities with controlled substances.