Stockton- Today, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved District Attorney Ron Freitas’s request for the County’s first-ever F.I.R.S.T. Unit: Fentanyl Intervention and Response Safety Team.

Speaking before the Board of Supervisors, District Attorney Freitas stated, “Our FIRST Team provides early intervention with rallies at High Schools and an ongoing Public Information Campaign, investigation of overdoses in order to identify “hot spots” and cooperate with Local, State and Federal Task Forces to prosecute major traffickers”.

He continued, “Through education, early intervention, and enforcement we can not only protect the public with awareness and adequately dealing with large-scale dealers of Fentanyl, but also continue to seek justice, not only for the victims but also for family members of those victims, who have to deal with the aftermath of Fentanyl.”

The FIRST Unit will consist of, among others: 3 Deputy District Attorneys, 2 Investigators, a Crime Analyst, and a Victim Advocate.

In approving the creation of this first-of-its-kind Unit in San Joaquin County, Supervisors Canepa, and Ding both discussed how they have been personally affected by the ongoing Fentanyl Crisis.

State Assemblymember Carlos Villapudua and Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln both spoke out strongly in favor of the creation of the FIRST Unit, with Assemblymember Villapudua stating that Fentanyl isn’t anything like other drugs and that combating the current Fentanyl epidemic is a ‘war on poison’.