Partnerships

In Pittsburgh, our major partnerships include:

• Formed in 1999, the Western Pennsylvania/West Virginia Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) is a cooperative effort of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies that work to prevent acts of international and domestic terrorism through disruption, dismantlement, and prosecution; to maintain an effective intelligence network to identify terrorism subjects and activities; to foster interagency relations to protect the community; and to train JTTF members to identify and investigate global and domestic terrorism. Federal agency representatives include Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); the U.S. Secret Service; Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Federal Air Marshals; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the FBI. State and local representatives include the Pennsylvania State Police, the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia Fire Marshall, the Allegheny County Police Department, the Erie Police Department, the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office, the Pittsburgh Police Department, the Cory Police Department, the Wheeling Police Department, the Harrison County Sheriff's Department, the Vienna Police Department, and the Parkersburg Police Department. Close coordination with the U.S. Attorney's Office for Western Pennsylvania along with the U.S. Attorney Offices in the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia continues. In 2003, an annex of the Pittsburgh JTTF was formed in West Virginia. The following year, a second annex located in Erie, Pennsylvania was established to address border and waterway incidents involving terrorism.
• The Pittsburgh High Tech Computer Crimes Task Force recognizes the dynamic and global threat posed by cyber crime. As a unit of consolidated federal, state, and local law enforcement, the task force was created to pool technical and investigative experts trained in computer technology and cyber crime. Its mission is to provide forensic examination, intelligence, and technical assistance to agencies encountering computers during the course of their investigations. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.cyber-response.net/.
• InfraGard Pittsburgh is the local chapter a national information-sharing alliance between private industry, academia, and government focused on protecting critical national infrastructures in both the online and offline worlds.
• The Financial Crimes Task Force of Southwestern Pennsylvania combines the investigative and prosecutive efforts of a range of agencies, utilizing the expertise of each to combat financial fraud. The task force consists of U.S. Postal Inspectors, Special Agents of the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI, investigators from the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office and the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, and Detectives from Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh.
• The Mortgage Fraud Task Force fuses the strengths of various law enforcement agencies to maximize investigative efforts against mortgage fraud in western Pennsylvania. It includes investigators from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and others involved in the mortgage industry. Federal law enforcement agencies participating include the U.S. Secret Service; the FBI; the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General; and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Other task force members include the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office; the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, Bureau of Consumer Protection; the Pennsylvania Department of Banking; the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Enforcement and Investigation; and the United States Trustee’s Office. Mortgage industry members with knowledge of fraudulent activity are encouraged to call the Mortgage Fraud Task Force at (412) 894-7550. Consumers are encouraged to report suspected mortgage fraud by calling the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Hotline at (800) 441-2555.
• The Erie Area Gang Law Enforcement (or EAGLE) Task Force works to combat gang and drug activity and includes members of the FBI, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, and the Erie Police Department.
• The Southwest Pennsylvania Safe Streets Task Force combines investigators from area law enforcement agencies to proactively identify, disrupt, and dismantle existing and emerging organized gangs and criminal enterprises. The task force includes law enforcement officers from the FBI, the Cambria County Drug Task Force, the Johnstown Police Department, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, and the Richland Township Police Department.
• The Huntington Violent Crime/Drug Task Force is an FBI-led Safe Streets initiative that was formed 12 years ago to address drug trafficking and violent crime matters in Huntington and surrounding areas. The task force includes officers from the Huntington and Barboursville Police Departments, the Cabell County Sheriff's Department, the West Virginia State Police, and the FBI. Task force personnel work closely with the officers of member agencies as well as other law enforcement officials to dismantle and disrupt significant drug enterprises that use violence to further their illegal activity. Other federal agencies such as ATF, the IRS, and DEA work closely with task force officers to use firearms and tax statutes and asset forfeiture to maximum advantage. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia and the Cabell County Prosecutor's Office are also valued partners in the task force's effort to successfully prosecute these enterprises.