New drug task force to hit La Porte County January 1st

A hand-picked team of law enforcement officials will hit the streets in La Porte County starting January 1st. They already have plans in place to combat illegal drug sales across the county better than ever before. ABC 57.com’s Andrea Alvarez spoke with the person who is taking on perhaps the biggest role and overseeing that task force.

“Taking a drug dealer off the street is only one part of it,” said Sergeant Andy Hynek with the LaPorte County Sheriff's Office.

Four different La Porte County law enforcement departments are now part of a high intensity drug task force, and they’re set to hit the streets on January 1st.

“Part of it was a recommendation from HIDTA, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas. They felt that it would be in the best interests if we pulled the resources together,” said Hynek.

The La Porte County Sheriff’s Department, Michigan City Police Department, La Porte City Police Department, and Indiana State Police have one goal: to get everyone on the same page and combat drug trafficking issues in the county.

“One department may have access to one resource and another department to another resource where now it’ll make everybody have access to everything,” said Hynek.

With almost two years of preparation, Sergeant Hynek says, they know exactly what they’re dealing with here.

“Real intense, a lot of meetings, and a lot of data gathering. The number of overdoses, the number of illegal narcotics arrest, drug dealing arrests,” said Hynek.

So they’ve picked the best to take on the task…

“They were able to assign some pretty highly motivated investigators from each of the agencies,” said Hynek.

And they’re ready to get started.

"We’re looking forward to it, just so many valuable resources that will benefit narcotics investigations which benefits the public here,” said Hynek.