NCJ Number
124534
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 38 Issue: 6 Dated: (June 1990) Pages: 40-42
Date Published
1990
Length
3 pages
Annotation
The small police department in Hollis, N.H., uses a network of informants and two undercover officers to deal with the local drug problem.
Abstract
Hollis, population 6,500, has 10 full-time officers and 20 part-timers. Two undercover agents, hired as such without ever being uniformed officers, are not on the regular payroll and are known only by the chief, the detective sergeant, and one staff detective. The undercover agents never come to the Hollis police department. They meet with the staff detective in distant towns. Most of the undercover effort focuses on the high school and the young adult population. Targets are sellers of hard drugs who have made at least three sales to the undercover agents. Because of the burnout associated with undercover work, agents are replaced every 2 years. The undercover agents depend on leads from a network of informants. The staff detective has approximately 20 informants who report to him. The undercover agents were major players in the town's 62 arrests of drug sellers in the past year, including a raid that netted $400,000 in drugs and $30,000 in cash. Funding for Hollis' drug effort is assisted by the State Forfeiture Fund.