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Recognizing and Honoring Gary Tuggle on the Occasion of His Retirement as the Special Agent in Charge of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s Philadelphia Field Division.
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WHEREAS, With over 30 years of law enforcement experience, Gary Tuggle, a Baltimore native, began his law enforcement career as a Baltimore City Police Officer. In 1992, he joined the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and was assigned to the Baltimore District Office after graduating at the top of his Basic Agent Class; and
WHEREAS, Gary Tuggle next served in the DEA’s Miami Field Division, where he worked on a number of complex international drug investigations. He transferred to the Bridgetown, Barbados Country Office in 1995 and served as the Assistant Country Attaché for an eight-country area of responsibility until 2001. From 2001 to 2004, he served as Group Supervisor over a highly productive enforcement group in the Chicago Field Division; and
WHEREAS, Gary Tuggle left Chicago to once again serve abroad as the DEA Country Attaché at the US Embassy in Port of Spain, Trinidad until 2007. Under his direction, the Port of Spain Country Office initiated an anti-money laundering initiative as well as other programs that significantly increased the drug law enforcement capacity of the Caribbean Region; and
WHEREAS, Gary Tuggle next served as a Staff Coordinator and Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) in the Latin America and Caribbean Section of DEA’s Special Operations Division. He was one of two Staff Coordinators chosen to handle high-profile Colombian cocaine enforcement operations. He next served as an ASAC in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Fusion Center, where he directed a number of operational, intelligence, and administrative programs all focused on identifying, investigating, and prosecuting members of high-level drug trafficking and organized criminal enterprises; and
WHEREAS, In 2010, Gary Tuggle was selected to serve as Executive Officer to the DEA Administrator. Then in 2012, he was assigned as an ASAC in the Washington Field Division, where he led the Baltimore District Office until his promotion to the DEA’s Senior Executive Service; and
WHEREAS, On Thursday, July 30, 2015, the DEA announced that Gary Tuggle would be the new Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the DEA Philadelphia Field Division. In this role, SAC Tuggle was responsible for overseeing and directing enforcement operations, including one that led to the seizure of approximately 40 kilograms of fentanyl destined for Philadelphia in October 2017; and
WHEREAS, SAC Tuggle actively engaged with City leadership to mitigate the dangerous effects of drugs in Philadelphia neighborhoods. He was a sitting member of the Mayor’s Task Force to Combat the Opioid Epidemic in Philadelphia and testified before City Council’s Public Health and Human Services Committee about the City’s heroin epidemic; and
WHEREAS, A large portion of SAC Tuggle’s legacy will be the way in which he formed bridges between the DEA and the community in Philadelphia. SAC Tuggle worked with the City on the “El Barrio Es Nuestro” (Gurney Street Project) to address the needs of the Kensington Neighborhood by bringing numerous community resources such as DEA Youth Dance Programs to several elementary schools in Kensington and funding for the Mural Arts Program Porch Light Storefront Program. Under SAC Tuggle’s leadership, the DEA Philadelphia Field Division implemented the DEA Citizens Academy Program to raise community awareness about the opioid crisis across the region; and
WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia is grateful to the strong leadership exhibited by SAC Gary Tuggle during the worst drug crisis in modern history and thankful for his career-long service to the United States and the international community in law enforcement. He will be missed by the DEA Philadelphia Field Division and the City of Philadelphia as the work he championed continues; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby recognizes and honors Gary Tuggle on the occasion of his retirement as the Special Agent in Charge of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s Philadelphia Field Division.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Gary Tuggle as evidence of the gratitude of this legislative body.
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