ISP Putnamville trooper receives national award for ‘cold stop’ seizure

Trooper Yan Dravigne receives his award from MVCI board members for a large seizure of cocaine last October.

Courtesy Indiana State Police

From July 29 to Aug. 1, the Motor Vehicle Criminal Interdiction (MVCI) association, in conjunction with the Drug Interdiction Assistance Program (DIAP), hosted its 29th annual conference in Orlando, Fla.

This national networking and intelligence sharing conference provides opportunities for law enforcement officials across North America who specialize in criminal interdiction to learn how to successfully detect and counter the latest smuggling techniques used by criminal organizations.

During the conference awards banquet, Trooper Yan Dravigne received an award for the largest “cold stop” highway seizure of cocaine in the United States for 2018. The seizure involved 100 kilograms of cocaine found in a tractor-trailer at the West Terre Haute truck scales on Interstate 70 in October of 2018.

The term “cold stop” means that no prior information was divulged prior to the traffic stop, and probable cause leading to the seizure and arrest was solely developed based on interactions with the suspect.

In 2018, as part of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area’s (HIDTA) Domestic Highway Enforcement Initiative, Dravigne removed 287 pounds of marijuana, 220 pounds of cocaine, 70 pounds of methamphetamine, 50 pounds of heroin, 12 firearms and $91,000 in illicit U.S. currency from Indiana roadways.

Dravigne has been employed with the Indiana State Police since 2008 and is currently assigned to special investigations.