2006 DPS Annual Report - Arizona Department of Public Safety

Criminal
Investigations
Division
Criminal Intelligence Research Unit (CIRU) enables high-profile investigations
The thorough and detailed investigative research provided in a hostage case assisted in identifying a smuggling
operation. The investigation resulted in 5 defendants and 23 illegal immigrants in a drop house and turned into a
very large investigation dealing with human smuggling and narcotics. In a second high-profile investigation, CIRU’s
assistance located a subject who was wanted in Phoenix for 1st degree murder with a $1 million bond. The
subject’s California criminal history indicated that he had been arrested when he was still in custody in Wasco CA
State Prison. CIRU’s established standards and professional experience continue to provide quality and successful
research to the criminal justice community.
Arizona hosts the first meeting of Coordinated Operations Before Initiating Joint
Actions (COBIJA)
The Arizona HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas) Region hosted the first meeting of the COBIJA
regionalization committee, which was attended by HIDTA directors from across the country. The Arizona HIDTA
has been the motivational force for the COBIJA project since it began in the 1990s. The objectives of the committee
were to regionalize the operational and intelligence sharing concept. At the National HIDTA Directors meeting
in Washington, D.C., the two primary topics were the HIDTA program
being transferred to the Department of Justice from the Office of
National Drug Control Policy in FY2007 and the proposal by El
Paso Intelligence Center to oversee a portion of the Cobija project.
Both items continue to be discussed and reviewed. Personnel from
EPIC will continue to interact with the Investigative Support Center
in Tucson for enhanced sharing of information. During June 2006,
members of Arizona HIDTA Region gave presentations to the newly
formed HIDTA Domestic Highway Interdiction Program (DHI). The presentations
included an overview of the Arizona HIDTA Region seizure data
base and the functionality of the situational map. The DHI program is a national regionalization of what was the
COBIJA concept started by the Arizona HIDTA Region. There are now nine regions in the United States who
coordinate law enforcement highway-interdiction operations. In Arizona, federal, state, local and tribal agencies
work together targeting smuggling activities on the highways and along the Arizona – Mexico border.
DPS GIITEM wraps up undercover project in Operation Gift Wrap
On Dec. 9, 2005, Mohave GIITEM Detectives, along with additional GIITEM and law enforcement resources
statewide, served three search warrants and arrested eight suspects as part of the six-month undercover project
“Operation Gift Wrap.” In this investigation, led by GIITEM Detectives, they posed as drug and human smugglers.
They were successful in purchasing more than sixty forged immigration documents and negotiated to supply four
pounds of methamphetamine and ten kilos of cocaine to members of the Sureños criminal street gang. The first
delivery of two pounds of methamphetamine was made and three more pounds of methamphetamine along with a
½ ounce of heroin were recovered in a subsequent search warrant served at the suspects’ homes.
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