Gil Kerlikowske, White House drug control policy director, recently presented Ralph Reyes, an assistant special agent in charge for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, with the national award for Outstanding Task Force Commander at the 2011 National High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Conference in Washington, D.C.
Reyes supervises the Philadelphia/Camden HIDTA Interdiction and Enforcement Task Forces, as well as the HIDTA Investigative Support Center.
He initiated the Northeast Corridor Attack Strategy, led Task Force Group 8 to more than 60 drug interdiction investigations and improved the work of the Investigative Support Center to provide strategic, actionable intelligence.
The HIDTA program provides federal resources to designated areas to help reduce drug trafficking and its harmful consequences.
Law enforcement organizations within those designated areas, including Philadelphia/Camden, assess drug trafficking problems and design specific initiatives to decrease the production, manufacture, transportation, distribution and chronic use of drugs and money-laundering.
There are 28 HIDTAs, which include about 16 percent of all counties in the U.S. and 60 percent of the U.S. population.
Additional information is available via www.WhiteHouseDrugPolicy.gov ••
