bulletin C J Criminal Justice Research Division, SANDAG Cross-Jurisdictional Task Forces on the Border: Targeting Drugs and Violence in San Diego County February 2014 Cynthia Burke, Ph.D. Division Director 401 B Street Suite 800 San Diego, CA 92101 (619 ) 699-1900 A SANDAG CJ BULLETIN BOARD OF DIRECTORS The 18 cities and county government are SANDAG serving as the forum for regional decision-making. SANDAG builds consensus; plans, engineers, and builds public transit; makes strategic plans; obtains and allocates resources; and provides information on a broad range of topics pertinent to the region’s quality of life. CHAIR FIRST VICE CHAIR SECOND VICE CHAIR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Hon. Jack Dale Hon. Jim Janney Hon. Don Higginson Gary L. Gallegos CITY OF CARLSBAD CITY OF SANTEE Hon. Matt Hall, Mayor Hon. Jack Dale, Councilmember (A) Hon. Farrah Douglas, Councilmember (A) Hon. John Minto, Councilmember (A) Hon. Lorraine Wood, Councilmember (A) Hon. Rob McNelis, Vice Mayor CITY OF CHULA VISTA CITY OF SOLANA BEACH Hon. Cheryl Cox, Mayor Hon. Lesa Heebner, Councilmember (A) Hon. Pamela Bensoussan, Deputy Mayor (A) Hon. Mike Nichols, Mayor (A) Hon. Rudy Ramirez, Councilmember (A) Hon. David A. Zito, Councilmember CITY OF CORONADO CITY OF VISTA Hon. Michael Woiwode, Councilmember Hon. Judy Ritter, Mayor (A) Hon. Al Ovrom, Councilmember (A) Hon. John Aguilera, Councilmember (A) Hon. Casey Tanaka, Mayor (A) Hon. Amanda Rigby, Councilmember CITY OF DEL MAR COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO Hon. Terry Sinnott, Councilmember Hon. Ron Roberts, Supervisor (A) Hon. Lee Haydu, Mayor (A) Hon. Dave Roberts, Supervisor (A) Hon. Al Corti, Deputy Mayor (A) Hon. Greg Cox, Supervisor Hon. Dianne Jacob, Chairwoman CITY OF EL CAJON (A) Hon. Bill Horn, Vice Chair Hon. Bill Wells, Mayor (A) Hon. Gary Kendrick, Councilmember ADVISORY MEMBERS CITY OF ENCINITAS Hon. Lisa Shaffer, Councilmember IMPERIAL COUNTY (A) Hon. Teresa Barth, Mayor Hon. John Renison, Supervisor, District 1 (A) Hon. Tony Kranz, Councilmember (A) Hon. Bill Hodge, Mayor, City of Calexico CITY OF ESCONDIDO CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Hon. Sam Abed, Mayor Malcolm Dougherty, Director (A) Hon. Ed Gallo, Councilmember (A) Laurie Berman, District 11 Director (A) Hon. John Masson, Councilmember METROPOLITAN TRANSIT SYSTEM CITY OF IMPERIAL BEACH Harry Mathis, Chairman Hon. Jim Janney, Mayor (A) Hon. Al Ovrom (A) Hon. Ed Spriggs, Councilmember NORTH COUNTY TRANSIT DISTRICT (A) Hon. Brian Bilbray, Councilmember Hon. Bill Horn, Chairman CITY OF LA MESA (A) Hon. Ed Gallo Hon. Kristine Alessio, Vice Mayor (A) Hon. Mike Nichols (A) Hon. Ruth Sterling, Councilmember U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (A) Hon. Mark Arapostathis, Councilmember CAPT Darius Banaji, CEC, USN, Commanding Officer CITY OF LEMON GROVE Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest Hon. Mary Teresa Sessom, Mayor (A) CAPT Richard L. Whipple, CEC, USN, Executive Officer (A) Hon. Jerry Jones, Mayor Pro Tem Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest (A) Hon. George Gastil, Councilmember SAN DIEGO UNIFIED PORT DISTRICT CITY OF NATIONAL CITY Hon. Bob Nelson, Chairman Hon. Ron Morrison, Mayor (A) Hon. Dan Malcolm, Commissioner (A) Hon. Luis Natividad, Vice Mayor SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY (A) Hon. Alejandra Sotelo-Solis, Councilmember Tom Wornham, Chairman (A) David Barnum, Director CITY OF OCEANSIDE Hon. Jack Feller, Councilmember SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TRIBAL (A) Hon. Gary Felien, Councilmember CHAIRMEN’S ASSOCIATION (A) Hon. Jerry Kern, Councilmember Hon. Allen Lawson, Chairman, San Pasqual Band of Diegueño Indians CITY OF POWAY Hon. Robert Smith, Chairman, Hon. Don Higginson, Mayor Pala Band of Mission Indians (A) Hon. Jim Cunningham, Councilmember (A) Hon. John Mullin, Councilmember MEXICO Hon. Remedios Gómez-Arnau, CITY OF SAN DIEGO Cónsul General of Mexico Hon. Todd Gloria, Interim Mayor (A) Hon. Francisco J. Olivarría, (A) Hon. Sherri Lightner , Councilmember Deputy Cónsul General of Mexico (A) Hon. Lorie Zapf, Councilmember Hon. Alberto Diaz Vacant (A) Hon. Marti Emerald, Councilmember (A) Hon. Myrtle Cole, Councilmember CITY OF SAN MARCOS Hon. Chris Orlando, Councilmember (A) Hon. Jim Desmond, Mayor (A) Hon. Rebecca Jones, Vice Mayor Rev. 012914 CROSS-JURISDICTIONAL TASK FORCES ON THE BORDER: TARGETING DRUGS AND VIOLENCE IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY INTRODUCTION LESSON 1: COLLABORATION IS IMPORTANT AND A 1 In 2013, San Diego County had a total of 20 cross- TASK FORCE OFFERS A UNIQUE jurisdictional task forces with the goal of targeting drug trafficking and violence that stemmed from the U.S.- OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO Mexico border. The Criminal activity, especially as related to drugs and For the purpose of this current project, which violence, often crosses jurisdictional boundaries and project, a task force was was funded by the studies of strategies targeting these issues have shown defined as any cooperative National Institute of that efforts involving inter-agency partnerships and law enforcement effort Justice (NIJ)2, was collaboration are more effective than one agency involving two or more conducted to better operating in insolation. That is, when law enforcement criminal justice agencies understand how these does not collaborate in terms of investigations and with jurisdiction over two task forces operated, prosecution, it works to or more areas, sharing the their short- and long- “The task force the advantage of common goal of term benefits, and is…great for organized crime groups impacting one or more where opportunities for deconfliction…if you because individual aspects of drug control improvement may exist. don’t have that then agencies acting alone may and violent crime Because much of the you have an ‘us’ versus lack the expertise and problems. research on task forces ‘them’ aspect…” resources, as well as the is dated, relies on legal authority, required limited data sources, and is not generalizable (due to - Federal task force focus to make a unified the multiple functions and permutations that task forces group participant response. In addition, can take), this report is useful to law enforcement both activities may be uncoordinated, duplicated, and in San Diego County, as well as other jurisdictions across incomplete, and the safety risk to undercover officers the country interested in better understanding task may significantly increase. forces targeting drug-related crime and violence that involve local, state, and federal partners. While formal partnerships between federal and local agencies make intuitive sense, the current degree to This CJ Bulletin summarizes the top ten lessons learned which federal agencies collaborate with local partners to from this three-year research project. For more detailed tackle urban crime only became more common in the information regarding the research protocol, prior 1980s. Multi-jurisdictional task forces are one of the literature, methods, and research findings, please most common ways that agencies can work together to contact SANDAG at (619) 699-1900. target a complex problem because the partnership is typically more formal and the goals are clearly outlined. 1 As part of this study, collaborative efforts in Imperial County, which neighbors San Diego County to the east, were also examined through task force and stakeholder surveys. Detailed information from this component of the study is available in the full report which is available from SANDAG upon request. 2 Opinions or points of view expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 3 LESSON 2: TASK FORCES ARE BENEFICIAL TO BOTH Finally, other benefits to both locals and feds include improved information sharing that results in better LOCAL AND FEDERAL AGENCIES IN THE deconfliction (the process of avoiding interference when SHORT- AND LONG-TERM suspects are the target of multiple investigations), being a force multiplier of resources (when agencies leverage To better understand the benefits of task force manpower logistical support, equipment and other participation, the input of task force leaders and sworn resources), and having the ability to build stronger cases law enforcement (who had served on task forces and when not limited by jurisdictional boundaries. who had not) was collected through surveys and focus groups. As Table 1 shows, the benefits of task force participation can be described as benefits to locals, the LESSON 3: feds, and to public safety both in general. SAN DIEGO COUNTY COLLABORATES WELL For locals, benefits include involvement in cases they may not normally be involved in, assets that may come In 2011, at the beginning of this project, there were 18 back to their department, and training and experience task forces in San Diego County that had a primary their officers receive. As one local task force focus group mission addressing issues regarding cross-border drug- participant explained, “We don’t have the number of related violence; and by people to run a unit or have an impact…we get a huge 2013, this number had The impetus for this benefit in terms of the resources, knowledge, and increased to 20. These project was two local experience available.” Benefits for federal agencies task forces could be departments (Chula Vista include access to locals who may have more thorough considered well- Police Department and knowledge of the community, access to confidential established, with an San Diego County Sheriff’s informants, and access to uniformed staff when it is average of 14 years in Department) receiving