LA HIDTA (Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area)

The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, created by the United States Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, provides assistance to Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States. The purpose of the program is to reduce drug trafficking and production in the United States by facilitating cooperation among Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to share information and implement coordinated enforcement activities; enhancing law enforcement intelligence sharing among Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies; providing reliable law enforcement intelligence to law enforcement agencies needed to design effective enforcement strategies and operations; and supporting coordinated law enforcement strategies which maximize use of available resources to reduce the supply of illegal drugs in designated areas and in the United States as a whole. The Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (LA HIDTA) was one of the original five HIDTA regions designated as a "Drug Trafficking Gateway." Now there are 28 designated HIDTA regions. The LA HIDTA region encompasses the Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. It is composed of officers and executives from more than 170 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies within the region. The LA HIDTA is governed by an Executive Board comprised of twenty members - ten federal and ten state / local agency executives. The Executive Board facilitates inter-agency drug control efforts to eliminate or reduce drug threats. Member executives ensure threat specific strategies and initiatives are developed, employed, supported and evaluated. Aligned with the National Drug Control Strategy, the mission of the LA HIDTA is to measurably reduce drug trafficking, thereby reducing the impact of illicit drugs in this and other areas of the country.