How to Become a DEA Agent in Tacoma, Washington by Meeting Requirements

DEA agents at the Tacoma Resident Office face the war on drugs on several fronts. Tacoma is located on the I-5 corridor, the main drug smuggling route up the West Coast that leads from Mexico to Canada. Mexican drug cartels are trying to make inroads into the area, while local drug producers and distributors also leave agents no time to rest.

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The process to become a DEA agent in the Tacoma area is long and arduous, and potential agents must meet specific requirements and go through an extensive training process before they can begin to work to keep drugs off the streets of Tacoma and the surrounding area.

DEA Careers in Tacoma

After being selected as one of the top candidates the prospective agent will have to undergo an extensive training process. However the first hurdle is to meet the basic requirements to even be considered for the application process. This includes either an experience or education prerequisite; the potential candidate must meet one of the following:

  • A bachelor’s degree with a 2.95 GPA or higher, a master’s degree, or a law degree: LL.B. or J.D.
  • A bachelor’s degree and three years of experience in a strategically important specialization such as:
    • Pilot or maritime license
    • Military
    • Fluency in a foreign language
    • Engineering
    • Telecommunications
  • Previous experience in law enforcement or drug control, undercover operations and surveillance, apprehension of suspects, and gathering of presentable evidence

Recent Tacoma DEA Busts

A Tacoma man and accomplice were arrested in a case investigated by the DEA involving a complexly mechanized marijuana grow operation. The primary suspect is accused of having designed a machine that provided grow-lights and hydroponic nutrients in an aluminum machine that would rotate around a row of 24 marijuana plants. Tacoma police found 2,083 marijuana plants on the occasion of the man’s arrest.

A large drug trafficking ring was busted and 17 people arrested in Tacoma, Seattle, Renton, and Stanwood, in a recent DEA operation. Authorities seized more than $400,000 in cash, 10 guns, 10 kilograms of cocaine, more than a pound of methamphetamine, and four pounds of heroin. Many of those arrested were Mexican nationals, and agents believe the drugs to be related to cartel activity.

A man appeared in a Tacoma court on charges stemming from DEA raids in Southwest Washington. 17 people in total were arrested during raids that included a shingles manufacturing mill that was used as a front for the trafficking of methamphetamine. The suspects are linked to a Mexican drug cartel and allegedly hid bags of meth in car tires in a smuggling route leading up the coast from a meth lab in Stockton, California. When agents raided that lab they found assault rifles packaged for delivery to Mexico, 88 pounds of liquid slush meth, and 66 pounds of crystal meth.

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