POUGHKEEPSIE – Several residents in the area of Gifford Avenue were awakened by a series of explosions, one neighbor told Mid-Hudson News. The explosions were the result of federal law enforcement agents, assisted by local police making entry into a residence at 12 Gifford Avenue in the city.
The FBI has not released the circumstances of the raid, the identity of the subject taken into custody, or the evidence that was recovered during the search on Friday.
The early morning raid was conducted by the FBI’s Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, assisted by the City of Poughkeepsie Police and the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office.
The Safe Streets Task Force, according to the FBI, brings together federal, state, and local law enforcement in coordinated investigations into gang activity involving several crimes including those involving drugs and firearms. The collaboration of the agencies helps to avoid duplicate investigations of the same subjects.
The task force uses street-level criminal suspects, wiretapping, financial analysis, and other techniques aimed at eliminating entire gangs through prosecution.
