LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire – R. Alexander Acosta , United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, announced that the United States Attorney’s Office conducted its 2007 Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer (“OLEO”) Awards ceremonies today in Miami to honor the outstanding work of South Florida’s law enforcement community. The OLEO Awards are presented annually by the United States Attorney’s Office to law enforcement agents and officers for outstanding performance in investigations and cases in the Southern District of Florida. The Southern District of Florida, which is comprised of nine (9) counties, encompasses a geographic area that includes Key West in the south to Sebastian Inlet on the northeastern coast and to Lake Okeechobee on the west. There are approximately six (6) million residents in the Southern District of Florida. The OLEO Award recipients are nominated by Assistant United States Attorneys from the Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Ft. Pierce offices of the United States Attorney’s Office.
At today’s Miami ceremony, the United States Attorney’s Office recognized the work of agents and officers in matters in the southern regions (i.e., Miami, Key West) of the District. Nearly one hundred (100) agents and officers who participated in forty-four (44) cases were recognized in the ceremony. The nearly one hundred and eighty (180) agents and officers represented approximately thirty (30) different federal, state, and local agencies and police departments. A reception in honor of the recipients was held immediately after the ceremony.
Mr. Acosta said, “I want to thank all of the agents and officers for the significant sacrifices they make and the wonderful support provided by their families in the pursuit of justice. As citizens and residents of South Florida, we owe these agents and officers our utmost respect, honor, and gratitude.”
The approximately thirty (30) agencies and departments represented by the awards recipients included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, United States Coast Guard, Federal Aviation Administration, United States Department of Agriculture-OIG, Department of Defense-OIG, Department of Environmental Protection-DLE, Environmental Protection Agency-CID, Department of Homeland Security-OIG, United States Department of Health and Human Services-OIG, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-OIG, United States Department of Transportation, Florida Department of Transportation-Office of Motor Carrier Compliance, United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Secret Service, Defense Contract Audit Agency, Colombian National Police, Miami-Dade Police Department, City of Miami Police Department, Broward County Sheriff’s Office, Hialeah Police Department, Miami Beach Police Department, Delray Police Department, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, Virgin Islands Police Department, Israel National Police, Miami Dade Fire Rescue, Miami Dade State Attorney’s Office, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Fisheries Enforcement, Office Personnel Management-OIG, Social Security Administration-OIG, United States Food and Drug Administration-OCI, and the Forensic Chemistry Center.
The outstanding work of these agents and officers has made it possible for the United States Attorney’s Office to remain one of the busiest in the nation. In the last fiscal year, the Office led and continues to lead the nation in most national drug task force program areas (including most indictments, defendants, financial violation charges, and seizures). It also had an increasing number of cases in areas of vital community protection, such as illegal possession of firearms, child exploitation and enticement cases, and other dangerous crimes. Moreover, the Office had a large number of complex criminal and civil cases, including in the areas of healthcare, securities, corporate, and banking fraud.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
