S.A.F.E. program helping Florida law enforcement battle illegal fentanyl activity

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. ( WKRG ) — It’s a drug significantly impacting communities across Northwest Florida.

“What can I say about fentanyl? It’s probably the worst drug I’ve seen in 30, 40 years,” Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said.

But the S.A.F.E. program, State Assistance for Fentanyl Eradication, is helping law enforcement fight back.

“We asked for and received over $200,000 in aid to get equipment but also to pay for overtime because as you know fentanyl is our highest priority crime here, so we put that money directly into our fentanyl investigations,” Simmons said.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, in its first year, the S.A.F.E. program has aided Florida law enforcement seize over 37 kilograms of fentanyl and over 30,000 fentanyl pills.

Earlier this week, FDLE announced the arrest of 19 alleged drug traffickers operating in Fort Walton Beach .

Simmons said the program is also helping get drug traffickers off the street in Escambia County.

“We’re looking at the mid-level drug dealers. The ones that are either bringing it into our community or the wholesale type distributors here in our community,” Simmons said. “So what we’re seeing is we’re being very effective with our arrests. We’re being very effective with our search warrants, with our seizures but at this point, there’s plenty of drugs out there, and we have plenty of work to do.”

Simmons said his office has requested nearly $200,000 again from the next round of S.A.F.E. funding.

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