INDIANAPOLIS  - The Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) today announced nearly $12 million in grant funding to address both methamphetamine use and production and the distribution of heroin and other opioids.

COPS Office Director Ronald Davis announced the 2016 COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force Program (AHTF) and COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program (CAMP) grants at the Indiana State Police Headquarters, where the Indiana State Police will receive $950,000 to address the significant increase in drug-related deaths in the state.

“Heroin and opioid abuse is having a devastating impact on nearly every community in the United States,” said Director Davis. “The grants announced today will contribute to the administration’s overall strategy in combating this horrible epidemic. We look forward to working with all of the state law enforcement agencies that received funding today.”

The COPS Office is awarding approximately $5.7 million through the COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force Program to six state-level law enforcement agencies to investigate illicit activities related to the distribution of heroin or unlawful distribution of prescriptive opioids. The goal of the program is to address the troubling trend of increases in heroin seizures and heroin-related overdose deaths. For more information about the COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force Program and a list of grant recipients, visit http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/default.asp?Item=2892.

Under the COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program, the COPS Office will award more than $6.1 million to eight state-level law enforcement agencies dealing with high seizures of precursor chemicals, finished methamphetamine and laboratories. The agencies will use the funds to investigate illicit activities related to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. For more information about the COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program and a list of grant recipients, visit http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/default.asp?Item=2893.

As part of National Opioid Awareness Week, the COPS Office today released a new publication, Building Successful Partnerships between Law Enforcement and Public Health Agencies to Address Opioid Use, which summarizes an April 27 forum held in partnership with the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).

The forum brought together law enforcement executives, public health providers, prosecutors, researchers, federal officials, and other experts to explore how the public health and public safety sectors can better collaborate to address the opioid epidemic.

The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1995, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 127,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training and technical assistance. For additional information about the COPS Office, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.