San Joaquin County may step up its war on fentanyl.
The Board of Supervisors is being asked on Tuesday to approve spending $2.2 million to establish the District Attorney’s Fentanyl Intervention and Response Safety Team (FIRST).
It will involve hiring 11 staff — including three deputy district attorneys and two investigators plus support staff — in a targeted prosecution effort of fentanyl traffickers.
“San Joaquin County is facing a rapidly increasing, near epidemic-level of fentanyl use resulting in tragic, preventable overdose,” noted District Attorney Ron Freitas in a letter to the board. “The new proposed unit within the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office will combat the scourge of fentanyl, fentanyl dealers and the lasting adverse effects to San Joaquin County.”
Freitas, who took over as DA in January, noted:
*From June 1, 2022 to June 19, 2023, the DA’s office reviewed 293 cases involving fentanyl in which 121 were charged as felonies, while 159 were filed as misdemeanors and 16 saw no charges.
*That amounts to two to three felony fentanyl drug trafficking cases per week.
*In 2021 there were 60 Fentanyl related overdose fatalities in San Joaquin County, more than one every week.
*Currently, there is only one dedicated narcotics prosecutor and one other that dedicates less than 50 percent of their time to narcotics cases.
*The last time the DA’s office had a dedicated narcotics prosecution unit was in 2010 when a four-year-old team was disbanded due to county funding shortfalls caused by the mortgage crisis.
The unit will be charged with a three-prong approach.
*Intervention through community outreach efforts to educate people about the dangers of fentanyl as well as training law enforcement and first responders in the best practices when it comes to fentanyl investigations.
*Response and prosecution. Unit members would have timely responses when a suspected overdose occurs to work toward securing enough evidence to identify the source of fentanyl and in order to prosecute dealers.
*Partner with other agencies to assure a coordinated approach to the problem in a bid to make prosecution more successful and efforts to eradicate fentanyl sales and use more effective.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, mail dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
