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Interviews with ParticipantsThe NEWS recently interviewed NDPIX participants for comments on their experiences with NDPIX. We contacted Ken Pike, Senior Special Agent of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) and Captain Jim Keathley and Loretta Kemna of the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP). We asked three questions: What impact does NDPIX have on your enforcement of drug laws? What procedures do you have in place regarding NDPIX? Are there improvements to NDPIX that you might suggest? Question - Impact of NDPIX?Maine:The MDEA believes that participation in NDPIX, which provides national coverage, offers the possibility of acquiring investigative leads that would not be available from either MDEA's own case files or from the New England State Police Information Network (NESPIN). Missouri: MSHP submits NDPIX entries on targets of interdiction cases such as road stops that develop into drug cases as well as on targets of established investigative cases. They find, in road stops for example, that specifics on seizures of cash and drugs can enable them to have a target held without bond and, with present sentencing guidelines, enable prosecutors to secure stiffer sentences. They believe this arrest information may be useful to other agencies who are investigating the same individual. MSHP reports that NDPIX offers the fastest response of any law enforcement data system that they use. Furthermore, they find the coverage provided by the national scope of NDPIX to be very important to them. Question - Procedures in Place?Maine:MDEA operates six regional offices with each office maintaining its own case files. An MDEA-wide weekly report of ongoing investigations serves to inform agents of the cases and targets under investigation in the other MDEA regions. The MDEA investigator completes a report of investigation, enters the targets into NESPIN, prepares MDEA's NDPIX data entry forms and forwards them to support staff who enters them into NDPIX. The support staff receives all NDPIX notifications and forwards them to the investigators involved. Copies of all NDPIX entries and copies of related notifications are maintained in case number sequence in a special file of NDPIX documentation. MDEA has established as a goal the establishment of a statewide-computerized information system for their cases. Missouri: All MSHP statewide narcotics agents report to and register their cases with the Narcotics and Vice Unit which handles all interactions with NDPIX. The Vice Unit first establishes the identity of all investigative targets of a case, establishes a case number, and then enters all targets into NDPIX. NDPIX notifications are returned to the Vice Unit, which then forwards match notifications to referenced MSHP agents. The Vice Unit advises that they will soon be keeping a log of such match notifications to facilitate tracking the use of these investigative leads. Question - Improvements to NDPIX?Maine: An NDPIX Success Story On January 31, 2000, DEA Detroit initiated an investigation of a suspected
marijuana trafficking organization and, as a result, identified several members
of the organization who were responsible for having distributed several tons
of marijuana in the Detroit metropolitan area. DEA agents directed a Confidential
Source (CS) to attend several meetings with the organization to negotiate
the purchase, delivery, and distribution of 3,000 pounds of marijuana from
an Arizona source of supply. During one meeting, a member of the organization
mentioned to the CS that one of the marijuana recipients had been arrested
earlier for selling cocaine. The CS then advised the DEA agent who entered
the suspected cocaine target into NDPIX and received a positive match with
the Michigan State Police (MSP). Discussions between the DEA and MSP revealed
that the target was about to attempt to purchase 20-pounds of marijuana from
the organization. MSP worked with DEA on the investigation that resulted in
seven search warrants being executed, the indictment and arrest of twelve
people for violations of continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to possess
with intent to distribute marijuana, attempted possession with intent to distribute
marijuana, and, aiding and abetting. To date, one person has pled guilty and
over two tons of marijuana and approximately $467,173.00 in assets have been
seized. Additional assets have been identified to include three homes. Seizure
of these assets is expected in the near future.
Promoting the Use of NDPIXThe benefits of NDPIX expand directly with each new participating law enforcement agency. Added targets in the database increase the likelihood of matches to NDPIX entries and each additional match offers the possibility of meaningful enhancement of drug investigations. DEA, as the managing agency, has undertaken to actively promote further enrollment in NDPIX and therefore, to further increase its value and, to this end, established the NDPIX Support Staff. The Staff reaches out to agencies that are not yet enrolled and provides assistance in the registration process and arranges for technical consultation during the get-ready stages of participation. This outreach also includes visits to state and local agencies and participation in statewide conferences as well as attendance and participation in meetings of professional law enforcement associations. The following is the calendar of the Support Staff for the period October 1 through December 31 of 2001:
The Support Staff welcomes invitations to visit your agencies to present and discuss enrollment in NDPIX. Please direct your invitations to Tricia Gosby or Mitch Morris, Editors, NDPIX NEWS, Intelligence Division, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, D.C. 20537, telephone 202-307-3604. NDPIX SupportNDPIX Support Staff
State Message Switch Systems Capable of Processing NDPIX
Transactions
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