Organization:California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement

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Short description: State law enforcement agency
California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement
BNE Shoulder Patch
BNE Shoulder Patch
CA DOJ Special Agent Badge
CA DOJ Special Agent Badge
Abbreviation"BNE"
MottoLiberty and Justice Under Law
Agency overview
FormedJanuary 1, 1927; 97 years ago (1927-01-01)
DissolvedFebruary 17, 2012; 12 years ago (2012-02-17)
Superseding agencyCalifornia Bureau of Investigation
Employees400 Special Agents at peak, 190 special agents in 2012
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionCalifornia, U.S.
Operational structure
HeadquartersSacramento, California
Parent agencyCalifornia Department of Justice (1944-2012)
Division of Law Enforcement (1969-2012)
Department of Penology (1929-1944)
Bureau of Pharmacy (1927-1929)
Facilities
Commands9 Field Offices
52 Regional Narcotics Task Forces
Notables
Program
  • Campaign Against Marijuana Planting
Website
BNE Website

The California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement (BNE) was a drug law enforcement agency, under the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ). The BNE was established in 1927, and was the oldest narcotic enforcement bureau in the United States at the time of it disbanding. In 2012, elements of the BNE were merged with its sister bureau forming the new California Bureau of Investigation (CBI or BI). Today, the CBI has taken over some of the former BNE's operations that had not been completely eliminated.

Role

An aerial shot of California Department of Justice Special Agents posing with several CA DOJ vehicles and aircraft

Its programs targeted "major drug dealers, violent career criminals, clandestine drug manufacturers and violators of prescription drug laws".[1] In its statewide agency role, it managed several programs involved in enforcing federal and state drug laws, as well as catching violent criminals who use illegal weapons while committing crimes. It coordinated with local law enforcement agencies. It used Special Operations Units, which identified individuals and groups involved in drug trafficking. They did so by examining financial records and performing undercover operations such as infiltration, surveillance, and tracing narcotic sources to clandestine manufacturers or importers. The BNE focused on targeting the trafficking operations and not minor figures within criminal groups. At the same time, through its diversion program, the Bureau trained doctors, nurses and pharmacists to help them "identify schemes and methods" used in obtaining controlled substances legitimately to then sell them illicitly. The BNE also took part in investigating medical professionals involved in such operations, for example by prescribing or dispensing controlled substances for illegal use.[2]

Its headquarters were located in Sacramento among other CA DOJ investigative bureaus, with nine regional offices in Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, Redding, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose. Task forces and operations within the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement included the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP), the Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Program (Clan Lab or CLEP), Violence Suppression Units (VSU), the CrackDown Program, the California Triplicate Prescription Program (TPP), the Diversion Program, the Financial Investigations Program (FIP), Special Operation Units (SOU), and over 50 regional narcotics task forces throughout California. 48 regional narcotic task forces previously run by BNE now fall under the CBI.[3] In 2009, the BNE had 187 agents.[4]

Special Agent Rank Classifications

  • Special Agent
  • Special Agent Supervisor / Task Force Commander
  • Special Agent in-Charge
  • Senior Special Agent in-Charge
  • Assistant Chief
  • Deputy Chief
  • Chief

List of Chiefs of BNE

Name Took office Left office
Frank H. Benson 1927 1930
H.S. Seager 1930 1931
Edward Powers 1931 1931
Joseph P. Anderson 1932 1932
George K. Home 1932 1933
William G. Walker 1933 1939
Paul E. Madden 1939 1943
F.J. O'Ferrall 1943 1947
Walter R. Creighton 1947 1958
John E. Storer 1958 1972
Leslie Menconi 1972 1974
Robert W. Jensen 1975 1975
Eugene B. Hollingsworth 1975 1977
1976 1978
Steve Helsley 1979 1985
Charles E. Casey 1986 1986
Joe Doane 1986 2000
Christy McCampbell 2000 2003
John Gaines 2004 2011
Kent Shaw 2011 2012

In popular culture

  • The 1958 film The True Story of Lynn Stuart, loosely based on a true story, includes an introduction by then California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, commended the work of BNE.
  • Bruce Springsteen's 1995 song Sinaloa Cowboys, was written based on a Los Angeles Times article that included many quotes of BNE agents, that were used as lines in the song.[5]
  • In light of the opioid epidemic and the release of previously sealed documents from Purdue Pharma, the episode 'In Triplicate' of the podcast Revisionist History, hosted by Malcolm Gladwell, covered the history of the Triplicate Prescription Program, created in 1939 by BNE Chief Paul Madden and its influence. Two months early, in May 2022, The Quarterly Journal of Economics published an article, Origins of the Opioid Crisis and its Enduring Impacts, which studied the difference in the opioid crisis in states that adopted a BNE style triplicate program and those that did not.[6]

References

External links