Organization of the Drug Task Force
The Franklin County Drug Task Force is comprised of sworn law-enforcement officers from area municipal police departments, the Franklin County Sheriff's Department, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Franklin County District Attorney's Office.
The primary agencies involved with the drug task force are, The Pennsylvania State Police and the Franklin County District Attorney's Office, both of whom supply two full-time officers to the drug task force.
Contributing agencies support the drug task force by supplying informants, intelligence information, equipment, buy money, and manpower for surveillance, search warrants, warrant sweeps, and other operations. Contributing agencies affiliated with the drug task force include:
Chambersburg Police Department
Washington Township Police Department
Shippensburg Police Department
Franklin County Sheriff's Office
Penn State University - Mont Alto Campus Police Department
The Franklin County Drug Task Force is part of the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General's Municipal Drug Task Force Program. The Municipal Drug Task Force Program is the state's primary weapon against street-level drug trafficking and also assists with mid to upper-level drug trafficking investigations. 62 of the state's 67 counties participate in the drug task force program.
There are two types of drug task forces funded by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General: district attorney-controlled task forces and Attorney General-controlled task forces. In a district attorney-controlled task force, the district attorney assumes control of the supervisory responsibilities and decides how many police officers are assigned to the task force.
In an Attorney General-controlled task force, a board comprised of chiefs of police, the district attorney and a Bureau of Narcotics Investigation agent, who is a task force coordinator, set task force priorities and assign task force officers. Presently, 32 of the 62 municipal drug task forces are district attorney-controlled task forces, including the Franklin County Drug Task Force.
