Learning the art of interdiction

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha hosted Texas Department of Public Safety criminal interdiction officers who facilitated a training event last week which included Kerr County Sheriff’s Office patrol deputies, as well as more than 20 DPS officers from around the state.

Led by DPS Lt. Joe H. Medrano, officers were taught the basics of how to identify suspect behavior on a routine traffic stop and to recognize potential suspects before making the stop, all in an effort to stop the flow of drugs and weapons into and out of the State of Texas.

“Since 2003, I’ve been teaching highway criminal interdiction,” Medrano said. “Not just for DPS, but for EPIC (El Paso Intelligence Center) and DIAP (Drug Interdiction Assistance Program).”

The process of carrying out a successful interdiction program is an art, requiring the officer to look beyond the obvious and key in on specific behaviors of individuals during a traffic stop using proven techniques taught by Medrano during the two-day training session.

“The amount of expertise that was here in Kerr County was probably the highest in the country, to be honest with you, because where these guys work on Interstate 40, they are the most active unit in the nation as far as criminal interdiction … finding drugs, finding weapons,” Medrano said of his team.

According to Medrano, drug trafficking in Texas is substantial, as the state borders Mexico and surrounding states that have legalized marijuana, such as Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

“It’s (marijuana use) legal there, but where they (traffickers) really make their money is when they go to non-legal states, like the State of Texas,” Medrano said. “So, they’ll bring their high-grade marijuana to Texas. They will sell it in New Mexico for say, just to throw out numbers, $500 per pound. In Texas, they will sell it for $5,000. So that’s what we are up against.”

In addition, Medrano said, dangerous drugs such as fentanyl are making their way into the state as well as through Mexico.

“We’ve even had team members that had loved ones killed, because they thought they were taking hydrocodone, but it is a Mexican tab that has fentanyl in it,” Medrano said. “If I’m not mistaken, fentanyl has killed more people in the United States than COVID did during the pandemic.”

It is these reasons that Medrano takes his job seriously and seeks to help law enforcement agencies across the nation learn to sniff out possible drug traffickers.

While criminal interdiction techniques are being taught across the nation, Medrano said he doesn’t try to hide what he teaches.

“We testify in court on our techniques and even when we are on the side of the road, we communicate with the individual on why we are stopping them and why we want to search their vehicle,” Medrano said.

Medrano said an interdiction officer is looking for specific behavioral indicators.

“Let’s say you are in a hurry trying to get somewhere and you know you are going to speed. So, what are you looking for when you know you are speeding?” Medrano said. “So, now put six kilos of cocaine in your vehicle and your driving from Los Angeles to Dallas, Texas. What are you going to be looking for?”

In both instances, Medrano said the drivers are keeping a lookout for police vehicles and react immediately upon seeing the patrol unit.

“When stress levels hits individuals, they do a bunch of weird things,” Medrano said. “Sometimes, they will take an exit to nowhere or they will go to a gasoline station and park under the gas pumps and never get out of the car.”

In addition, Medrano said officers are trained on behaviors to look for when questioning a suspect.

“We also look for certain items inside a vehicle,” Medrano said.

“I’ve been all over the country from Maine down to San Diego, from Seattle to Miami and everywhere in between, teaching,” Medrano said.

His travels have also taken him to Alaska and Mexico, although is training session in Mexico was cut short due to violence in the area.

Medrano said higher level training includes how to identify where drugs and drug money is stashed in a vehicle.

“They get really elaborate in how they conceal the narcotics or money, so they will build compartments inside the vehicle,” Medrano said.

Medrano said while he has had all of the indicators present during a traffic stop, but did not find drugs in the vehicle, he knows the training is solid in being able to identify individuals doing something they are not supposed to be doing.

As an example, he said he pulled over a vehicle that was occupied a male and female. Using his training, he was able to pick out all of the high-stress behavior he was taught to look for, but he was left scratching his head at the end of the interaction, as he found no drugs.

“I searched and I searched. Put everything back and I finally asked them what was going on,” Medrano said. “The male suspect said he was sorry for wasted my time and explained that he is married and his passenger is married, but they are not married to each other. They were going for a weekend getaway.”

Leitha said he was very pleased with the level of training and plans to send his dedicated interdiction officer to advanced training with Medrano, which will include interactive and search procedures.

“As you know, we started our local interdiction team and they wanted some training,” Leitha said. “So, I went up to Lubbock to try to schedule this training and it took about three months. We were very fortunate.”

Leitha said DPS provided the training at no cost to the county and the event was held at the Hill Country Youth Event Center, which had no cost associated with the venue since it is a county facility.

“My goal is to bring training here. I can provide training to multiple officers and save the taxpayers money on travel at the same time,” Leitha said.

Leitha said he hopes patrol deputies will be able to utilize the training to enhance traffic stops to help fight the battle of drug trafficking.

KCSO Capt. Jason Waldrip said the goal is to give deputies tools to be proactive in fighting crime in Kerr County.

“We as a law enforcement community need to work together as a force multiplier to stop the flow of drugs and even human smuggling,” Waldrip said. “Even if they are just passing through our county. Working together, we can make an overall impact on the State of Texas, which ultimately impacts the local community.”