U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

 Fact Sheet cops.usdoj.gov

October 2021

2021 COPS Office Anti-Heroin Task Force Program

The FY 2021 COPS Office Anti-Heroin Task Force Program (AHTF) is designed to advance public safety by providing funds to investigate illicit activities related to the 

distribution of heroin, fentanyl, or carfentanil; the unlawful distribution of prescription opioids; or unlawful heroin 

and prescription opioid traffickers through statewide 

collaboration. For FY 2021, the COPS Office awarded 

more than $31.1 million in AHTF award funds to 13 state 

law enforcement agencies. Each award is three years (36 

months) in duration with no local match. In addition, each 

award was limited to no more than $4 million.

Background 

The abuse of opioids, a group of drugs that includes 

heroin and prescription painkillers, has a devastating 

impact on public health and safety in this country. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 143 Americans on average 

died from drug poisoning every day in 2015. Prescription 

drugs were involved in nearly half of the 52,400 drug 

poisoning deaths that year, and opioid pain relievers were 

involved in approximately 24,000 of those deaths. About 

12,900 drug poisoning deaths involved heroin. Drug poisoning deaths outnumbered deaths from gunshot wounds 

or motor vehicle crashes.1

The rate of drug overdose deaths involving heroin increased from 0.7 per 100,000 in 2005 to 4.9 per 100,000 

in 2017; and the rate of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl increased from 1 per 

100,000 in 2013 to 11.4 per 100,000 in 2019.2

1. CDC Wonder, "About Multiple Cause of Death 1999–2005," Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention, accessed December 8, 2016, https://wonder.cdc.gov/ 

mcd-icd10.html.

2. National Center for Health Statistics, "NHCS Data on Drug Overdose Deaths: 

NCHS Fact Sheet June 2021," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 

accessed October 4, 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/factsheets/factsheetdrug-overdose.htm. 

Funding Provisions

In FY 2021, the COPS Office awarded more than $31.1 

million in AHTF award funds to 13 state law 

enforcement agencies.

Provisions include the following:

AHTF competitively provides funds directly to state 

law enforcement agencies with high rates of primary 

treatment admissions for heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil, 

or other opioids. 

AHTF funding must be used for investigative purposes to locate or investigate illicit activities, including 

activities related to the distribution of heroin, fentanyl, 

carfentanil, or other opioids; the unlawful distribution of prescription opioids; or unlawful diversion and 

distribution of prescription opioids. 

AHTF provides funds to state law enforcement agencies with multijurisdictional reach and an interdisciplinary team (e.g., task force) structures. These state 

law enforcement agencies must have primary law 

enforcement authority over heroin and other opioids 

seizures and investigations.

AHTF funding is not intended for treatment programs or prosecution of heroin and other opioidrelated activities. 
2

2021 COPS Office Anti-Heroin Task Force Program

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 

The following resources discuss various efforts to address the problem of heroin 

and other opioids:

Crime Prevention Research Review No.1: 

Disrupting Street-Level Drug Markets

This report summarizes the findings from all rigorous academic studies 

evaluating a range of street-level drug law enforcement interventions. It finds 

that strategic crime control partnerships with a range of third parties are more 

effective at disrupting drug problems than law enforcement-only approaches. 

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ric.php?page=detail&id=COPS-P128

Drug Market Intervention: An Implementation Guide

This guide provides practical information intended to help law enforcement, 

community, and social services partners—the strategy’s key stakeholders—

prepare and successfully execute DMI to close overt drug markets. It discusses 

the ways overt drug markets damage neighborhoods, contribute to disorder, 

and negatively affect communities. This publication guides the reader through 

the processes of partnership formation, police-community reconciliation, 

dealer notifications, staging call-ins, maintaining closure of drug markets, and 

delivering services to dealers.

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ric.php?page=detail&id=COPS-P303

Drug Dealing in Privately Owned Apartment Complexes

This problem-oriented guide for police focuses on drug dealing in privately 

owned apartment complexes. It clearly distinguishes between open and closed 

drug markets, provides information on what is known about each market type, 

and offers questions to ask when analyzing each market.

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ric.php?page=detail&id=COPS-P013

The High Point Drug Market Intervention Strategy 

The High Point Drug Market Intervention Strategy tells the compelling story 

of designing and implementing the original intervention in High Point, North 

Carolina, and describes a subsequent successful replication in Providence, Rhode 

Island. This publication is part of an ongoing series by the National Network for 

Safe Communities about its two core crime reduction strategies. 

https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ric.php?page=detail&id=COPS-P166

Contact the COPS Office

For more information about COPS Office 

programs, please call the COPS Office Response 

Center at 800-421-6770 or visit the COPS Office 

website at https://cops.usdoj.gov.

October 2021