POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro announced on Wednesday that the last of his Municipal Innovation Grant awards would be a $563,821 award to improve on the work being done by the Dutchess County Drug Task Force.
Funding for the initiative, administered by the county’s Department of Planning and Development, will ensure continued law enforcement participation throughout the county while simultaneously expanding the opioid enforcement activities currently in use by the Drug Task Force.
Molinaro assembled county and municipal law enforcement representatives for the announcement
Four police departments currently have personnel working on the task force the Town and City of Poughkeepsie, City of Beacon, and the Town of East Fishkill. Currently the municipalities shoulder the financial burden of the program. The grant seeks to eliminate that while also allowing the Town of Poughkeepsie PD to assign a dedicated police officer to the task force, giving greater flexibility in providing for gun and drug targeting and investigation activities, noted Molinaro.
“The role of the Drug Task Force is now more critical than ever and in this case, the work they do every day results in drugs off the streets ensuring lives are saved throughout our community,” Molinaro said.
According to the legislature’s Public Safety Committee Chairman and Town of Poughkeepsie Police Captain Ken Roman, the Drug Task Force handled a substantial workload in 2016 including 135 cases, investigation of 273 tips, completed 265 buys, executed 32 search warrants, 15 search warrant raids, and seized 12 vehicles.
Created in 1989 to help eliminate the sale, possession, and distribution of narcotics in Dutchess County through the use of undercover operations and other investigative resources, the efforts of the task force are led by the Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office and handle a caseload throughout the county.
Roman said that this grant funding “is critical to ensuring that illegal drugs stay off our streets and out of the hands of those who can cause harm to others. The Dutchess County Drug Task Force plays an integral role in the fight against opioids, fentanyl, and heroin in Dutchess County.”
