U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for the District of Maryland and Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Washington Division announced Monday the formation of the Maryland Fentanyl Overdose Task Force.
The goal of the MFFOTF is to “raise awareness and increase the number of prosecutable overdose-death cases through proper evidence collection and preservation, while also conducting community outreach to educate vulnerable communities throughout Maryland” according to the DEA. The task force consists of federal, state and local sworn law-enforcement members from agencies in Maryland. The rate of overdoses has resulted in more than 2,000 deaths from July 2023 to June 2024, and more than 1,600 were related to fentanyl. Fentanyl has reached every corner of Maryland and is cheaper and more readily available than ever before.
Task force participants will remain with their departments and conduct their normal duties. They will serve on the task force as a collateral duty when needed. It is led and coordinated by DEA’s Washington Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
“This problem demands a reinvigorated, unified response throughout Maryland,” said Barron. “Devastated communities and families are urging us to do more, especially more education and intervention to prevent the needless loss of life.”
The MFFOTF is comprised of 17 state, local, and federal law-enforcement offices as of October 2024:
- Anne Arundel County Police Department
- Baltimore Police Department
- Baltimore County Police Department
- Calvert County Sheriff’s Office
- Cecil County Sheriff’s Office
- Drug Enforcement Administration
- Frederick City Police Department
- Hagerstown Police Department
- Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services
- Montgomery County Police Department
- Ocean City Police Department
- Queen Anne’s County Office of the Sheriff
- St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office
- U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland
- Washington County Sheriff’s Department
- Wicomico County Sheriff’s Department
- Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the DEA created a Public Service Announcement, a training for first-responding law enforcement arriving at an overdose crime scene and a training for outreach and community education. Members of the task force have already delivered presentations on fentanyl to more than 200 citizens across the state.
Please visit http://www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach for more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office and its resources.
