Gov. Jim Justice followed up on his Wednesday night announcement to create a Narcotics Intelligence Unit to battle drug trafficking by issuing an executive order to that effect on Thursday.
Justice talked Wednesday night during his State of the State Address how drug traffickers sneak their illegal wares in through small rural towns where police presence is minimal.
By creating this strike force, as he called it, “We are going to bust your ass. That’s all there is to it.”
The executive order directs the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety to create the unit as a subunit of its Intelligence Fusion Center, which is based at the Capitol and collects, analyzes and shares information among its stakeholder agencies about criminal activity and other hazards.
The unit, Justice said in his Thursday announcement, will be “a 21st-century law enforcement unit to use state-of-the-art data analytics, forensic accounting, and support to every West Virginia law enforcement agency to crack down on drug trafficking activity.”
It will “aid West Virginia task forces and law enforcement agencies in the administration of criminal justice, including assisting in the detection, apprehension, detention, prosecution, and adjudication of accused persons or criminal offenders.”
Wednesday night, Justice estimated the cost of the unit at $1.9 million.
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