Thursday, December 19, 2024–10:50 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Federal resources are on the way for the Rome Police Department, according to Georgia U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff.
Rome is getting $21,368 to fund drug interdiction efforts with a fully trained drug, tracking, and apprehension canine
“You’re going to get a new drug dog on the force,” he said. “It will assist, for instance, in preventing fentanyl, other dangerous opioids and other dangerous drugs from being trafficked into and through Northwest Georgia.”
Ossoff added that the opioid crisis has and continues to take a toll on Northwest Georgia.
“Funding local law enforcement and being responsive to their needs is one of my highest priorities,” he added. “I was pleased to support this request from Rome law enforcement for this new K9, and those resources are on the way to support the community.”
Meanwhile, Ossoff’s bipartisan bill to crack down on fentanyl trafficking at the Southern Border is headed to the President’s desk to become law.
The bipartisan DETECT Fentanyl and Xylazine Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives to strengthen the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s capacity to detect fentanyl and xylazine at ports of entry and better prevent it from crossing the border.
It passed in the U.S. Senate last week and will now head to the President’s desk to be signed into law.
The bipartisan bill, which Sen. Ossoff introduced in June alongside Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), James Lankford (R-OK), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), would require the DHS Science and Technology Directorate to research and develop technologies that better detect drug trafficking across the southern border.
“We brought Republicans and Democrats together to pass this bill that will strengthen detection and prevention of fentanyl trafficking,” Ossoff said.
Between FY 2020 and FY 2023, the amount of fentanyl seized at the southern border increased by 480 percent. In 2023, CBP seized more than 400,000 pounds of non-marijuana drugs, including 1,142,859 doses of fentanyl that were seized by the Atlanta Field Office alone.
Last month, Sens. Ossoff and Blackburn (R-TN) introduced the bipartisan Border Smuggling Crackdown Act to strengthen Federal prosecution of human smugglers and protect innocent victims.
In May, Sen. Ossoff inspected the Paso del Norte port of entry, the area of operations for Border Patrol’s El Paso station, and detention facilities in Texas and New Mexico. He also met with U.S. law enforcement and national security officials and Mexican law enforcement officials in Juarez, Mexico, and warned of the threat of terrorism at the southern border.
In April, Sen. Ossoff helped to pass the bipartisan Border Enforcement, Security, and Trade (BEST) Facilitation Act through the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to strengthen border security by providing additional CBP officers to scan cargo for illegal drugs and guns or human smuggling.
In March, the Sen. Ossoff-backed bipartisan Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act became law, which will sanction drug cartels and combat money laundering by the criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking.
Earlier this year, Sen. Ossoff introduced the Deploy Fentanyl Scanners Act of 2024 to help deploy scanners at ports of entry to better identify contraband, including fentanyl, being smuggled across the border through personal vehicles.
In 2022, Sen. Ossoff’s bipartisan Rural Opioid Response Act was signed into law to help rural communities experiencing high rates of opioid overdoses respond to the crisis.