WYSH AM 1380 Anderson County's Classic Hit Country!
On Thursday, a group of District Attorneys General from around East Tennessee, including Anderson County’s 7th Judicial District Attorney Dave Clark, announced a joint plan called the “313 Initiative.”
Named for the telephone area code that serves the Detroit, Michigan area, the operation, which began in December, is aimed at disrupting the drug trafficking pipeline between the Motor City and East Tennessee.
In addition to Clark, other DA’s in attendance at Thursday’s press conference included:
- 4th District Attorney General James Dunn,
- 5th District Attorney General Ryan Desmond,
- 6th District Attorney General Charme Allen,
- and 8th District Attorney General Jared Effler.
In a press release from Allen’s office, which you can read below, officials described the 313 Initiative as “a concerted and organized effort by numerous state and local law enforcement agencies to identify, target, and dismantle individuals and groups from the Detroit area who have chosen Knox and surrounding counties to distribute prolific amounts of narcotics, which ultimately lead to increased numbers of associated violent crimes and overdose deaths.”
Since the initiative began in December, authorities say they have seized 42 pounds of methamphetamine, nearly 8 pounds of fentanyl and/or heroin, “multiple pounds” of other drugs, 29 guns, and made 46 arrests of people with connections to Detroit.
Officials say that another benefit of the 313 Initiative is that information and intelligence will be entered into a database and shared with partner agencies “instead of being locked away in a case file, benefiting all of East Tennessee.”
(6th District Attorney General Charme Allen press release) Several District Attorneys General for East Tennessee announced a new joint initiative focused on disrupting the drug trafficking pipeline between Detroit, Michigan, and East Tennessee. 4th Judicial District Attorney General James Dunn, 5th Judicial District Attorney General Ryan Desmond, 6th Judicial District Attorney General Charme Allen, 7th Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark, and 8th Judicial District Attorney General Jared Effler announced the creation of the 313 Initiative.
The 313 Initiative is a concerted and organized effort by numerous state and local law enforcement agencies to identify, target, and dismantle individuals and groups from the Detroit, Michigan, area who have chosen Knox and surrounding counties to distribute prolific amounts of narcotics, which ultimately lead to increased numbers of associated violent crimes and overdose deaths. Law enforcement agencies will utilize all available resources and investigative tools to identify these individuals and groups from Detroit and will use both traditional detective work and 21st-century technology to stop the pipeline of illegal drugs into our community. Since the initiative began in December, we have seized 42 pounds of Methamphetamine, nearly 8 pounds of Fentanyl/Heroin, multiple pounds of other drugs, 29 guns, and made 46 Detroit-connected arrests.
“We want everyone to know that Knoxville and surrounding counties are a hostile market for would-be drug traffickers,” said DA Charme Allen.
The partner agencies in the 313 Initiative include the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Knoxville Police Department, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, 4th Judicial Drug Task Force, Sevier County Street Crimes, 5th Judicial Drug Task Force, 7th Judicial Crime Task Force, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and the District Attorneys General of the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Judicial Districts. Through the 313 Initiative, information and intelligence will be entered into a database to be shared with partner agencies instead of being locked away in a case file, benefiting all of East Tennessee.
