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Press Release
Press Release
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – United States Attorney Ron Parsons joined the U.S. Department of Justice in announcing that the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office has been awarded a new $1,029,958 federal grant to combat the illegal trafficking of methamphetamine in South Dakota.
The funds were awarded through the Community Oriented Policing Services Office (COPS) Anti-Methamphetamine Program by the Department of Justice as part of a $7.2 million grant to law enforcement agencies in nine states (Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin) to support the investigation of illicit activities related to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine.
The grant of $1,029,958 to the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office, headed by Attorney General Marty Jackley, is equal to the largest amount awarded to any state agency under this program.
“Methamphetamine and its dealers and users are connected, in one way or another, to a large percentage of the crimes committed in South Dakota, particularly drug trafficking, gun crimes, violent assaults, robberies, burglaries, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and child abuse and neglect,” said U.S. Attorney Parsons. “Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies are committed to working together to stamp out this poison. And working together, we are making steady progress. For example, just last month, law enforcement in Minnehaha County seized more meth than was seized during the entire year of 2017. The timely award of this new federal grant will help our talented teams of South Dakota law enforcement officers accomplish even more.”
“The national meth epidemic is impacting and hurting our families and communities here in South Dakota,” said Attorney General Jackley. “This award presents a tremendous opportunity to cooperatively fight this meth epidemic head-on in our state.”
The grant application provides that the award will be used to fund additional investigators, agents, and forensic analysts for the Sioux Falls Police Department, Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Rapid City Police Department, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, and Oglala Sioux Tribal Police to serve on the Sioux Falls Area Drug Task Force, Rapid City Drug Task Force, and Northern Plains Safe Trails Task Force.
“This is great news for South Dakota and bad news for those dealing drugs in our communities,” said Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead, whose deputies serve alongside other federal, state, and local law enforcement officers on the Sioux Falls Area Drug Task Force.