Submitted by Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Devon Holder
Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Devon Holder announced today that the Third Judicial District Drug Task Force has received additional funding, allowing the unit to expand its full-time presence across all four counties of the district — Jackson, Lawrence, Randolph, and Sharp.
Since its relaunch in 2023, the Drug Task Force has relied heavily on Task Force Officers (TFOs), law enforcement personnel employed by local sheriff’s offices and police departments who volunteer their time and cooperate with the DTF in addition to their regular duties. That cooperation has been instrumental to the unit’s early success, including a first-quarter haul of nearly $1 million in illicit drugs and more than 40 arrests within the DTF’s first three months of operation, along with the removal of more than $9,000,000.00 worth of illegal drugs in its first two years.
With this new funding, the district will now be able to place a Drug Task Force agent whose sole assignment is drug enforcement in each of the four counties. TFOs will remain a vital part of the operation, but the addition of dedicated, full-time personnel will enable increased surveillance of drug activity in every corner of the district.
“This expansion means we’ll have eyes and ears dedicated full-time to drug enforcement in every county we serve, not just when a TFO can spare the time away from their home department,” Holder said. “This funding just means we can do more, in more places, more consistently.”
Holder noted that the task force’s results have been driven by agents who routinely put in well more than their required hours. “Our agents don’t clock out when the work isn’t finished,” Holder
said. “They’ve consistently gone beyond what’s required of them, and it shows in the numbers we’ve been able to put up.” Among Arkansas judicial districts without an interstate highway running through them, the Third Judicial District Drug Task Force has posted some of the best statistics in the state.
Holder emphasized that the Drug Task Force’s work extends well beyond drug seizures. Because drug activity is so often tied to theft and violent crime, the DTF routinely assists other agencies throughout the district on cases that start out having nothing to do with narcotics.
“Drugs don’t exist in a vacuum,” Holder said. “Where you find drug activity, you very often find the thefts and violent crime that go along with it. Our Drug Task Force agents often work alongside other units in this district to help close cases that aren’t strictly ‘drug cases’ on paper, but are drug-related at their core.”
Holder thanked the Office of the Prosecutor Coordinator, the Arkansas Drug Task Force Association and Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders for the increased funding that made the expansion possible.
“I want to thank the Office of the Prosecutor Coordinator and the Arkansas Drug Task Force Association for their hard work in advocating for these funds. I also appreciate Governor Sanders for recognizing what this task force means to the people of Jackson, Lawrence, Randolph, and Sharp Counties, and for backing that recognition with the resources to grow it,” Holder said. “This funding is a direct investment in the safety of our communities.”
Since the Drug Task Force was re-established in 2023, it has taken millions of dollars in illegal drugs off the streets of the Third Judicial District, working in close cooperation with local sheriff’s offices, police departments, the Arkansas State Police, several federal agencies, and neighboring drug task forces in the Second and 16th Judicial Districts.
