About the BCDTF

The Boulder County Drug Task Force is a multi-law enforcement agency task force whose primary focus is to investigate violations of state and federal drug law. Currently the Boulder County Drug Task Force is comprised of detectives and supervisors from the Boulder Police Department, Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, University of Colorado Police Department, Louisville Police Department, Lafayette Police Department, and Erie Police Department. The Boulder County Drug Task Force serves the towns of Lyons and Superior as well because the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office provides contract law enforcement services to those communities. It operates under an Inter-Governmental Agreement signed in 1998 by mayors, city managers, administrators, and attorneys and a county commissioner from the represented government entities.

In years past, the Boulder Police Department and the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office operated separate drug investigative units within their respective agencies. Implementing a task force enabled the Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office to reduce the number of detectives assigned to their individual narcotics units reallocating staff to other functions. This reallocation reduced the number of future staffing requests ultimately saving tax dollars.

Currently, there are nine detective positions, two sergeant positions, a Task Force commander position and one administrative/secretarial position. Detectives serve a minimum of two and up to five years on the Task Force before rotating back into their contributing agency. Detectives receive eighty hours of basic drug investigation instruction from the Drug Enforcement Agency in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Agency. They eventually attend an forty-hour certification in Clandestine Lab Response and Investigation as well. Additional training is an on-going process and includes case law review, officer safety, defensive tactics, firearms proficiency, and building entry and search techniques, etc.

Drug investigations involve a complex and unconventional approach in law enforcement. A strong knowledge of criminal case law pertaining to search and seizure as well as laws of arrest is a minimum requirement. Conducting law enforcement in a realm of drug trafficking requires detectives to be able to operate in dangerous environments and situations outside the usual law enforcement arena where uniformed officers work. Detectives are picked for their knowledge, skills and abilities to fit into the various drug cultures that exist in our communities. They develop investigative leads from various confidential and anonymous sources of information as well as from the frequent concerned citizen.