Full article by Richard Schoeberl, Jeff Bolettieri, and Bill Loucks, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, June 5, 2024.
In this feature article, three professionals with extensive law enforcement experience describe how transnational criminal organizations are using their experience in drug trafficking to utilize routes and operating procedures to take advantage of other criminal opportunities, such as human trafficking.
Listen to expert insights on the collaborative and multifaceted steps needed to address this nexus between drug and human trafficking.
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Richard Schoeberl
Richard Schoeberl, Ph.D., has over 30 years of law enforcement experience, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). He has served in a variety of positions throughout his career, ranging from a supervisory special agent at the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to unit chief of the International Terrorism Operations Section at the NCTC’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Before these organizations, he worked as a special agent investigating violent crime, human trafficking, international terrorism, and organized crime. Additionally, he has authored numerous scholarly articles, serves as a peer mentor with the Police Executive Research Forum, is currently a professor of Criminology and Homeland Security at the University of Tennessee Southern, and works with Hope for Justice – a global nonprofit combating human trafficking.
Jeff Bollettieri
Jeff Bolettieri is a 27-year veteran with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, New York, where he spent 12 years assigned to the Special Investigations Unit, and 11 years assigned as an investigator Sergeant with the Special Investigations Unit. Additionally, Jeff spent 16 years assigned to the Drug Enforcement Administration New York Drug Enforcement Task Force. Eleven of those years, he was assigned as the executive officer supervising task force personnel and overseeing cases. Jeff currently serves as an investigator/instructor for Hope for Justice, an international non-profit organization combating human trafficking. Jeff is responsible for specialized training to include Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces human trafficking training and working in Hope for Justice’s Investigative model across the U.S.
William (Bill) Loucks Jr.
William (Bill) Loucks Jr. has over 20 years of law enforcement experience, the majority working as a gang and narcotics detective with the Metro Nashville Police Department. Following Metro Nashville Police Department, Bill served as an instructor for the North Carolina Department of Justice-Justice Academy, where he instructed gang and narcotics-related courses. Bill is also a North Carolina General Instructor, North Carolina Specialized Explosives and Hazardous Materials Instructor, and Tennessee Specialized Police Instructor Certified for gangs. Bill is currently a senior investigator with Hope for Justice, where he conducts human trafficking investigations and serves as an instructor for law enforcement agencies. He is also a staff member of the International Narcotics Interdiction Association.
