The vast majority of task forces include the county sheriff and at least one municipal law enforcement agency in a county as members. However, the actual participation of municipal law enforcement agencies varies from one task force to another. For example, the notification of municipalities that there was a task force activity scheduled for their jurisdiction was not consistently implemented across task forces. In addition, there are differences in participation based on the size of the municipality. Larger municipalities are more likely to have the resources to assign an officer to a task force full-time.
Smaller municipalities have a more difficult time justifying such an assignment.
In spite of the variation in size and resources of municipalities, the active participation of municipal law enforcement agencies that are members of task forces should be encouraged. Among several benefits, active participation in a task force can augment drug law enforcement efforts in a municipality through training and the application of more sophisticated techniques for combating crime. In some task forces, municipalities can receive forfeiture funds from the seizure of drug assets by the task force operations. The formal participation of a state agency on a Byrne funded task force is not common. However, the participation and assistance of a state law enforcement agency has been helpful for some task forces currently operating.