DENVER — The Denver Police Department wants more than half a million dollars for a new fentanyl investigations team. Monday, the city council approved their application for a state grant.
The task force will look into overdose deaths with the hope of finding the dealers.
The grant program was created under a state law passed in 2022. According to the Colorado Department of Public Safety, lawmakers allocated $7 million for the program. It provides funding for law enforcement agencies to investigate deaths caused by synthetic opiates.
DPD said their Fentanyl Task Force will investigate fentanyl sales, distribution and possession. Their goal is to target efforts for prosecuting the drug dealers.
According to the department, the task force will utilize equipment such as GPS trackers, cameras, confidential informants and undercover operatives.
DPD is creating the team now because of the number of people who have died of a fentanyl overdose. According to data from Denver's medical examiner, the drug killed 58 people in 2019 and 244 people in 2022.
The department said fentanyl and other synthetic opioids have made the metro area a "hub" for major drug trafficking.
"This has placed a strain on the Denver Police Department and Denver Crime Lab to investigate and prosecute drug trafficking organizations," the department wrote in its grant award letter.
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