On Thursday, April 15, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners will accept two grants on behalf of the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department – one for just over $214,000, and one for $217,000 and change – in order to battle the drug dealers who do business in Guilford County.

Guilford County is centrally located in North Carolina, and it’s also a good midway point for those traveling between Raleigh and Charlotte or Atlanta and Washington or New York and Miami.  For years, that’s been thought to be one of the reasons this area sees a lot of drug traffic – and this roughly $431,000 is expected to help local law enforcement in that fight.

The agenda for the Board of Commissioners April 15 meeting calls for the board to approve the receipt of the 2020 “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas”  grant.  At the same meeting, the board will approve the receipt of the 2021 grant funds from the same program.

 No county likes having the label of “high intensity drug traffic area,” however, the Sheriff’s Department appreciates the help that the grants provide.  The money beefs up the operations of a local law enforcement task force that focuses on drug crimes in the area.

According to information presented to the county commissioners, these new grant funds “will be used for overtime, training, travel and technology/communications costs for the Task Force.”

Guilford County was officially notified of the funding in a late February letter from the national director of the federal high intensity trafficking area program.

The money comes with a lot of paperwork and regulations.  The use of the funds is subject to various audits and other checks, and the money can’t be used to “supplant state or local funds that would otherwise be made available for the same purposes.”