LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Bullitt County authorities say I-65 has been a pipeline for drugs, but the sheriff hopes a new federal designation will help to curb the area's drug problem.
Bullitt County is now designated as a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). It joins nearly 40 other Kentucky counties with the same federal designation.
Bullitt County Sheriff Walt Sholar said local law enforcement has been pushing for the designation for years.
The department used to be enrolled in a joint-narcotics task force but it was disbanded in 2011.
Sholar said since he took office in 2019, he's worked to reinstate the program and become classified as a HIDTA county.
"As you'll find all across the country, narcotics trafficking and narcotics use is a tremendous burden and problem," he said. "We firmly believe a great deal of our violent crime is associated with drug use and drug trafficking."
Sholar also said a lot of the smaller theft-related crimes the county deals with are also tied to some form of drug trafficking.
He said the county's close proximity to I-65 is a major reason why.
"There's a tremendous amount of narcotics I believe that are traveling up and down I-65. Anybody who doesn't believe there's a tremendous amount of narcotics moving up and down that highway has another thing coming," he said.
According to the state's 2022 Overdose Fatality Report, 42 people died from overdoses in Bullitt County last year.
"That in-and-of itself is enough of a problem," Sholar said. "We've got to work as diligently as we can to stop it."
Sholar said the drugs that are most often to blame for overdose deaths include fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine.
The sheriff said this new HIDTA designation will bring more resources to Bullitt County to help keep drugs out of the area and put more of those responsible behind bars.
"Violent crime is regional," he said. "It does not stop at county lines. So our new designated a HIDTA county -- as well as well as Louisville/Jefferson County, Hardin County, Nelson County -- provides us a greater opportunity to be involved in regional law enforcement."
Sholar went on to add, "The only time criminals are paying attention to county lines is when it is to their benefit and we need to dismember that benefit to them."
He also said the designation will better connect them to federal agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
"There's information and abilities those federal partners have that we have not had access to. I believe HIDTA will help us be more in the circle of information," Sholar said.
The sheriff said he'll soon meet with HIDTA leaders to discuss an increase in funding to help Bullitt County expand its anti drug-trafficking operations.
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