The frontline against transnational organized crime is shifting north. Once concentrated along America’s southern border, Mexican and Venezuelan cartels and the Chinese chemical networks that supply them are expanding into Canada, exploiting vulnerabilities across the 5,500-mile frontier that divides, yet binds, the two nations.
Officials warn this is no longer just another conventional policing challenge. It is an inflection point — a public safety and national security crisis claiming tens of thousands of young lives every year across North America.
A united front in Toronto
Thousands of our sons and daughters, on both sides of the border, are dying. Where is the outrage?
That urgent question framed a landmark two-day seminar in Toronto hosted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Central Region Federal Policing and coordinated by the Global Consortium of Law Enforcement Training Executives (GCLETE) in association with the National Sheriffs Association (NSA) Border Security Committee.
The event, Understanding Cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations and Their Impact on Canadian National Security, brought together leading experts from both countries to strengthen operational cooperation and share lessons learned from the southern border.
Recognizing that “all things are local,” the RCMP reached out to GCLETE to build stronger cooperation between sheriffs’ offices and police leaders on both sides of the border. Through this collaboration, the RCMP first drew on the experience of Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Arizona, and Sheriff Kieran Donahue of Canyon County, Idaho, both national leaders in counter-cartel operations along the U.S. borders.
Building on those lessons, the focus has now expanded north. Sheriff Robert Milby of Wayne County, New York, is organizing similar efforts between sheriffs and police officials along the northern border to adapt these proven models of collaboration to their own unique cross-border challenges.
Technology and intelligence on the front line
The Toronto seminar brought together a powerful mix of law enforcement leaders and intelligence experts from both sides of the border. From the start, the message was clear: advanced technology and real-time intelligence are essential to counter the speed and scale of cartel operations.
Captain Tim Williams of the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office described how his team uses the Spyderweb advanced camera system and will soon deploy Draganfly’s Outrider drones — designed for long flights to detect and deter criminal movement in rugged terrain. “Technology like this,” Williams explained, “can be adapted to northern environments where smuggling and trafficking are harder to detect.”
Analysts from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) delivered a stark intelligence briefing on cartel expansion, synthetic drug pipelines and the use of encrypted communication channels to coordinate across borders. Their findings reinforced a central theme of the event: transnational cartels exploit the gaps between agencies faster than governments can close them.
In a joint session emphasizing operational coordination, New Jersey State Police LTC (Ret.) Joe Brennan and Ontario Provincial Police Chief Superintendent Pat Morris stressed the importance of real-time information sharing. They highlighted how established, scalable platforms — such as New Jersey’s DHS-supported use of Adobe Connect, a secure, web-based and cost-free system already leveraged statewide for multiagency collaboration — prove that practical, scalable solutions for international intelligence exchange already exist.
The human cost and community impact
While the technology discussions focused on data and systems, the heart of the seminar came from stories about lives lost and communities transformed by cartel-driven crime.
Keynote speaker Derek Maltz, former acting administrator of the DEA and now senior vice president for Penlink, delivered an emotional address that ended with the faces of children lost to fentanyl poisoning. His message was a reminder that “every number, every seizure, every pill represents a life, a child.” The human cost of the synthetic drug crisis — fueled by cartel distribution networks and Chinese precursor chemicals — gave the event its moral urgency.
Experts from the Niagara Parks Police Service drew the audience’s attention to the suffering behind human trafficking and smuggling, describing how vulnerable populations are targeted and left with lasting trauma. Their firsthand accounts underscored that transnational crime isn’t an abstract threat — it’s a daily reality for victims and the officers who try to save them.
Meanwhile, Alex Goldenberg of Narravance revealed another battlefield: social media. He presented a sobering analysis of how cartels now employ the same online recruitment tactics once used by ISIS and other extremist groups to radicalize and groom vulnerable youth. His warning reframed the problem — not only are cartels invading physical borders, they’re invading digital ones, too.
Policy, prosecution and partnership
The seminar also explored how prosecutors, correctional leaders and cross-border agencies can coordinate to disrupt the criminal networks behind the violence.
Former Assistant Attorney General Robert Czepiel Jr., who served as deputy director of New Jersey’s Office of the Attorney General, Department of Criminal Justice, drew on decades of prosecutorial experience to lead an in-depth examination of Canadian anti-money laundering laws. Working alongside Canadian counterparts and experts from the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, Czepiel helped dissect strategies to target the cartels’ illicit financial networks operating across borders.
Dr. David Grantham, former chief of intelligence for the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, and Calvin Bond, senior chief deputy for Tarrant County’s Sheriff’s Office, followed with a session titled Establishing an Intelligence Program in Correctional Facilities to Combat Cartel and Transnational Criminal Gang Activities. They showed how prisons can be critical sources of intelligence on cartel communication, recruitment and financing — and why stronger coordination between correctional institutions and law enforcement across the border is essential.
Taken together, these sessions demonstrated that the fight against transnational organized crime requires more than new tools — it demands new partnerships, deeper trust and a shared understanding of how local action ties into continental security.
The China connection
Several speakers warned that the fentanyl crisis is not only a law enforcement challenge but also a matter of national defense.
“The Chinese government is waging a war that isn’t fought with bombs or bullets. It’s fought with chemicals and precursors, killing more of our citizens than any kinetic battlefield in modern history,” stated former DEA Administrator Derek Maltz.
As Sheriff Donahue summarized: “Cartels don’t respect geography. Whether it’s Arizona, Alberta, or upstate New York, the mission is the same, protect our communities, protect our children, and stand shoulder to shoulder. Make no mistake as we are at war with China and their nefarious criminal ally aimed at destroying the very social economic fabric of our countries. And we are at war with their criminal partners, the Mexican Cartels, designated at international terrorist organizations.”
Key takeaways for northern border policing
All things are local. Local and county law enforcement are often the first to respond. Cross-border collaboration amplifies their impact.
Information sharing is critical. Real-time intelligence between U.S. and Canadian agencies is essential to disrupt cartel and trafficking operations — and established, scalable capability already exists that can immediately unite hundreds of agencies in real time, setting a model for international adoption.
Technology matters. Advanced camera networks, drones and data analytics can detect criminal movement in remote regions.
Learn from the South. Southern border strategies can be adapted to northern threats.
Focus on youth protection. Cartels exploit social media and mimic extremist recruitment tactics. Community outreach and awareness programs are key.
Transnational threats require unity. Mexican and Venezuelan cartels, supported by Chinese chemical networks, are operating across borders. U.S. and Canadian law enforcement must act as one.
Human cost drives urgency. Tens of thousands of children are dying from fentanyl and trafficking-related causes. Policy, enforcement and public awareness must match the scale of the threat.
Standing shoulder to shoulder
The seminar concluded with an urgent message: this is not business as usual. The crisis demands moral, operational and political urgency. Communities, agencies and governments must unite to protect the most vulnerable, disrupt criminal networks and strengthen partnerships across borders.
Demonstrating solidarity, NSA’s incoming Executive Director Justin Smith and former NSA President Sheriff Kieran Donahue participated alongside representatives from the Niagara Parks Police Service, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Texas DPS, Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Their presence underscored a growing consensus: the fight against cartels transcends politics and geography.
“This isn’t about North or South, red or blue. It’s about defending our people, our democratic values and our shared security,” stated Sheriff Mark Dannels, Cochise County and chair of the NSA Border Security Committee.
The leadership of the RCMP Central Region Federal Policing has set a new standard for cross-border collaboration, convening an unprecedented dialogue that prioritizes innovation, trust and shared purpose above bureaucracy or politics. Their forward-looking approach shows that proactive, coordinated action — not reactive enforcement — is essential to confronting transnational criminal networks and safeguarding the next generation.
This initiative proves that when law enforcement agencies work shoulder to shoulder, exchange expertise freely and embrace bold, strategic thinking, communities across borders are not only protected — they are empowered. Together, Canada and the United States demonstrate that unity, foresight and collaboration are the most powerful tools in the fight against cartels and transnational crime.
Tactical takeaway
Don’t wait for the border to define your threat. Build direct lines to your counterparts across regions — information moves faster than traffickers.
What indicators of cartel presence — trafficking routes, money laundering or recruitment — are you seeing in your community? Share below.
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