The Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit is responsible for the investigation and suppression of narcotics activities that either occur within Ventura County or whose illegal activities adversely affect the citizens of Ventura County and the quality of life they expect and have a right to demand.

Investigations performed by the Narcotics Unit require various techniques such as surveillance, under-cover operations, informant development, information gathering and analysis, and the service of search and arrest warrants. Although investigators can be involved in the investigation and arrest of mid and upper level narcotic violators, the main focus of the detail is the deterrence and arrest of street level violators.

Along with their other duties, the Narcotics Investigators also work closely with State Parole and County Probation officers and the courts. They conduct probation and parole searches and are frequently called upon to testify as narcotics experts in state and federal court.

This Unit also aggressively pursues the illegal planting and harvesting of marijuana within the confines of Ventura County. During the grow season of 2004, the unit was involved in the identification and eradication of over 17,000 marijuana plants that were being grown and harvested on public land in the Los Padres National Forest.

In 2003, the Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit seized a variety of illegal narcotics whose aggregated street value would have totaled over $69 million dollars in illegal profits.