2008 Woodie Awards
UCF officer joins narcotics task force
Mark Schaub
Issue date: 7/31/08 Section: News
A UCF police officer has been selected as an agent for the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation and will report for duty September 1.
MBI is a law enforcement task force comprised of 14 local, state and federal agencies, including the UCF Police Department. Its investigations are focused on narcotics, vice and organized crime. UCF Police Chief Richard Beary, responsible for adding his department to the collection of agencies, said it's an efficient way to expand their duties.
"The thought process with us joining [MBI] is it's a force-multiplier for us," said Beary, who is also a part of the MBI governing board. "If I put one body in there, I get the collective work of dozens of agents in return."
Beary said the other critical reason for joining MBI is that, since he's been at UCF, every violent crime that's taken place on campus or on UCF property has been drug-related.
"So if we're going to deal with that issue, then the way to do it is through this task force concept where we can use that force-multiplier," Beary said.
The UCF officer will be a narcotics agent, said William Lutz, director of MBI. In fact, 85 percent of MBI agents work in the narcotics division, with the other 15 percent working in vice and organized crime.
"He'll be a benefit to the entire community," Lutz said. "And our resources here will be a benefit also to UCF, because although we work a lot of narcotics cases out in the area of Alafaya and University, the benefit of having information coming from UCF Police Department, and the persons that provide information to the police department will help us do more work out in that area."
The name of the officer has not been released, as the officer works undercover.
The process took about 30 days to complete, as the UCF Police Department asked for volunteers to be the first to represent UCF in the nationally recognized task force. The applicants were interviewed by a panel made up of some of the UCF Police Department as well as MBI. Their selection was based on the applicant's background and performance, "and to try to make sure we had a good fit on the task force," Beary said.
MBI is a law enforcement task force comprised of 14 local, state and federal agencies, including the UCF Police Department. Its investigations are focused on narcotics, vice and organized crime. UCF Police Chief Richard Beary, responsible for adding his department to the collection of agencies, said it's an efficient way to expand their duties.
"The thought process with us joining [MBI] is it's a force-multiplier for us," said Beary, who is also a part of the MBI governing board. "If I put one body in there, I get the collective work of dozens of agents in return."
Beary said the other critical reason for joining MBI is that, since he's been at UCF, every violent crime that's taken place on campus or on UCF property has been drug-related.
"So if we're going to deal with that issue, then the way to do it is through this task force concept where we can use that force-multiplier," Beary said.
The UCF officer will be a narcotics agent, said William Lutz, director of MBI. In fact, 85 percent of MBI agents work in the narcotics division, with the other 15 percent working in vice and organized crime.
"He'll be a benefit to the entire community," Lutz said. "And our resources here will be a benefit also to UCF, because although we work a lot of narcotics cases out in the area of Alafaya and University, the benefit of having information coming from UCF Police Department, and the persons that provide information to the police department will help us do more work out in that area."
The name of the officer has not been released, as the officer works undercover.
The process took about 30 days to complete, as the UCF Police Department asked for volunteers to be the first to represent UCF in the nationally recognized task force. The applicants were interviewed by a panel made up of some of the UCF Police Department as well as MBI. Their selection was based on the applicant's background and performance, "and to try to make sure we had a good fit on the task force," Beary said.