In an operation that required a massive amount of communication, the Bee County Sheriff’s Office secured eight arrests and one search warrant. This two day operation took place on July 12 and 13; it resulted in the seizure of a significant amount of methamphetamine and cocaine.
This operation had been in the works for approximately a week. The Bee County Sheriff’s Office works with the Victoria Crossroads High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Task Force as a member to conduct these operations across all its jurisdictions.
The objective of the operation was securing illegal narcotics and intercepting criminals before they could circulate the drugs. The Bee County Sheriff’s Office, along with other participating agencies, saturated known drug trafficking routes with patrol units. The patrol units would then search vehicles under probable cause, such as traffic violations. Through interviewing techniques, the officers would make informed decisions on how to continue.
Along with members of the Victoria Crossroads HIDTA Task Force, the Bee County Sheriff’s Office received assistance from the Beeville Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Drug Enforcement Administration and multiple agencies all participating in Operation Lonestar.
Chief Deputy Ronnie Jones said that the participating agencies worked together flawlessly.
“When you’re talking about several agencies working together, communication is another big thing. In our planning stage, because the radio frequency for Refugio Sheriff’s Office is not the same as Bee County Sheriff’s Office, that’s just a little that went into planning and logistics and it worked very well.”
Jones attributes the near perfect communication practices to the fact that they have been working together and networking for several years. A good internal relationship with these agencies is what makes it go smoothly, according to Jones.
“It’s our relationship with the other agencies that makes this successful,” said Jones. “... That’s the key ingredient to this cake.”
The Bee County Sheriff’s Office has conducted two other similar operations in 2022. This will not be the last operation the Bee County Sheriff’s Office will participate in this year.
•mtamez@mysoutex.com•