Satellite Broadcast  Expanded Description

“A Smuggling Crisis: Disrupting the Drug Trade”

Thursday 28 August 2008
1:00 - 2:00 PM ET

An MCTFT  Pre-recorded Satellite Broadcast also available as a Webcast

No CE/CEU Credits

Available on C Band Analog & 
GETN Digital Warrior Satellite Networks

a.  Sponsors:  This program is sponsored by the Multijurisdictional Counterdrug Task Force Training (MCTFT) and the Florida National Guard, with the extended technical support of the USAF Air Technology Network at Wright Patterson AFB, OH. 

b.  Availability:  This free, public domain, previously recorded broadcast will be available on both C-Band Analog satellite downlinks and the GETN /Military/Federal Warrior digital CDV satellite networks.  There is No KU Analog or KU Digital Satellite Coverage Available for this program.  Other private and public satellite networks may also carry the program, check with your satellite provider.  (Note: This program WILL NOT be available on small digital dish networks such as DirecTV or Echostar systems.)   

Will this program be Webcast/Video streamed?   Yes, this program will be available as both a live and achieved webcast for all registered sites.  Connectivity details will be contained in the registration confirmation message for all registered sites. 

c.  Target Audience Statement:  Primary target audiences for this program will include Government agencies, law enforcement officials, high school students, teachers, parents, drug prevention specialists, Drug-Free Communities Act grantees, administrators, school drug counselors, treatment providers, drug court members, policy makers, business leaders, coalitions, drug demand reduction coordinators, criminal justice professionals, members of the religious community and other community partners who may be interested.  This program is also suitable for Public or Cable Access television distribution.

d.  Program Summary & Objectives:  How are drugs transported into our country?  Numerous methods of smuggling are how it begins. In order to attack the problem, it’s important to know how it enters our communities and what to do to intervene safely.  Drug trafficking organizations or DTOs, are complex organizations with highly defined command-and-control structures that produce, transport, and/or distribute large quantities of one or more illicit drugs utilizing all ports of entry and transportation.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard are challenged daily to eliminate the threat of drugs being smuggled into the United States.  Drug smugglers from Mexico, Canada and other countries work hard at developing new ways to conceal the presence of narcotics.  Drug smugglers conceal narcotics in propane tanks, engines, animals, and in food products.  U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have found narcotics inside children's electronic games, cans of soup, and computer parts.  Miami inspectors noticed an unusual density in cans of butter.  This prompted the inspectors to x-ray the butter and found 72 kilos of cocaine concealed inside.  Whenever U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard uncover one method of concealment by drug smugglers, it forces smugglers to look for alternatives.  The better agencies are at detecting narcotics, the better smugglers try to get at hiding them.

A Smuggling Crisis: Disrupting the Drug Trade, a one hour training broadcast features law enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and State Police.  These experts share their knowledge and strategies used to locate narcotics smuggled from Mexico, Canada and other ports of entry.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the latest drug smuggling trends within the United States as well as Canada, Mexico, New York and Miami
• See successful seizure footage provided by our expert panelists
• Hear various tactics and techniques used for successful seizures and officer safety
• Learn various techniques to locate hidden compartments for illegal contraband 
• Explore ways on how communities can help
• Learn the signs of drug smuggling activities in large and rural areas and how to report suspicious activities

e.  Content Providers: 

Rick Bernard, Border Integrity Coordinator for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; New Brunswick, Canada  -  Rick Bernard has 18 years of dedicated service with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) which includes 8 years in patrol, criminal investigations and highway patrol.  Rick was responsible for introducing the Operation Pipeline concepts to their patrol area in Northern New Brunswick province in the late 90's.  For the past 5 years Rick has been assigned to Integrated Border Enforcement Team (IBET) along the Maine/New Brunswick border.  IBET is a multi-agency investigation team comprised of police officers of the RCMP, agents of the US DHS (Border Patrol, ICE Coast Guard and CBP) and Canada Customs.  For two years, Rick was the Commander of the St-Stephen IBET unit.  Recently he was promoted to the position of Border Integrity Coordinator for the RCMP in New Brunswick.  In the past ten years Rick has been involved in over a hundred cases of drug trafficking, drug smuggling, human smuggling, tobacco smuggling, gun trafficking and National Security investigations.  In January of 2006 he traveled to Baghdad Iraq to investigate the kidnapping of 2 Canadians, an American and a British citizen by an insurgent group operating there. 

Sheriff Michael A. Lewis, Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office, Maryland  -  Sheriff Lewis recently retired as a Sergeant with the Maryland State Police, Pro-Active Criminal Enforcement (PACE) Team after 22 years of loyal and dedicated service.  Retiring as the leading Criminal Interdiction Expert for the Maryland State Police, Sheriff Lewis remains a CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR through the Maryland Police Training Commission, and a certified MASTER INSTRUCTOR through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Sheriff Lewis was directly responsible for the training and educating of all Maryland State Police personnel in the Criminal and Drug Interdiction Programs.  He pioneered the Drug Interdiction Program along Maryland’s notorious U.S. Rt. 13 corridor, where he coordinated many multi-jurisdictional investigations following the seizures of large amounts of illegal contraband.  Mike also developed and implemented the now hugely successful full-time Pro-Active Criminal Enforcement (PACE) Team comprised of Maryland State Troopers charged with patrolling the infamous I-95 pipeline from Miami to New York.  During his twenty-two years as a Maryland State Trooper, he’s made many nationally recognized seizures of crack cocaine, powder cocaine and heroin from electronically controlled hidden compartments.  Sheriff Lewis has trained tens of thousands of law enforcement officers extensively throughout the United States and Canada as well as other parts of the world to include; Australia, London, Germany, Russia & the West Indies.  Sheriff Lewis has been judicially recognized by the federal & state courts of this country as an EXPERT in the areas of Highway Interdiction, Hidden Compartments & Drug Valuation.  Retired from the Maryland State Police effective July 1^st, 2006, Mike Lewis was elected Sheriff of Wicomico County, Maryland on November 7^th 2006.  He resides in Salisbury with his wife Denise and their two children. 

Sergeant Paul R. McDonald,  Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Indiana  -  Paul McDonald is a 22 year veteran of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.  In 2000 he founded the department’s first Criminal Interdiction Section.  Due to its success, this team has grown over the years and is currently comprised of thirteen uniformed narcotics detectives, including six narcotic canine units.  Year after year, this team of highly motivated officers has led the department in arrests, drug, and money seizures.  Paul is a nationally certified Criminal Interdiction Instructor through the DEA’s El Paso Intelligence Center and the DOT’s Drug Interdiction Assistance Program.  He has instructed thousands of officers over the years in the areas of Less-Lethal Chemical and Impact Munitions and all areas of Criminal Interdiction.  In 2006 Paul was the Chairman of the 16^th Annual International DIAP-EPIC Conference held in Indianapolis.  He currently is an active member of the Governor’s Coalition for a Drug Free Indiana and the Indiana Criminal Justice Agency’s Advance Criminal Enforcement Task Force (ACE) committees. 

f.  CEUs, CMEs, Certificates:  There are No CEUs, CMEs Available for this program. 

g.  Videotape Availability:  For DVD or VHS copies of the current or many past broadcasts follow the link to: MCTFT Videos and DVDs.  Broadcasts copies will be available for order a few days after the air date.  

h.  Videotape release (if taping from broadcast):  This FREE program is unclassified and non-scrambled.  There are no copyright restrictions on this program, however it MAY NOT be videotaped and re-broadcast where fees are attached to its showing.  The tape in its entirety nor any parts of it may not be used for commercial purposes or for profit purposes without additional permission of the sponsors.  Cable Access stations may rebroadcast the tape on local networks without further permission.   

i.  Web Site Support and Materials:  None, although other information may available at:  www.mctft.com.   

j.  Satellite Coordinates and Site Support Materials Packet:  Satellite coordinates are never publicly posted, you must register to receive them.  Satellite coordinates will be sent to all site coordinators and their supporting satellite technicians (if you listed an email address for them) about 5-7 days prior to the broadcast.  If available, site support materials will be available to all registered participants on line.  Details will be sent in the final satellite coordinates message.  If you need assistance in locating a satellite downlink location to view this program, please call Ed Kronholm, our satellite/registrations coordinator, toll free at 1-877-820-0305 or 480-820-0305 or email: dlnets@aol.com.    

k.  Registration:  All new sites MUST register for this FREE, public domain program to receive the necessary satellite coordinates (C/KU) or illumination authentication (GETN/Warrior dishes) and Site Materials Website.  Sites may register at: MCTFT Registration or by calling Ed Kronholm’s Office, the Satellite Registrations Coordinator, toll free at 877-820-0305 or 888-820-4898. 

l.  Future Programs:  For future information on free broadcasts (subject to change due to satellite availability and other scheduling issues) please visit this web site: (Information changes periodically; please refresh your browser upon each visit.) http://www.dlnets.com/mctft.htm#current