Drug Enforcement Administration Internship Sets a Career in Motion

By Kathryn Podolsky

University of Central Florida senior Katie Daniels spent four months, from June through September 2003, with the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Orlando District Office. Daniels shadowed and assisted agents during an internship she called "an amazing opportunity."

Last year Daniels, whose major is legal studies and minor is criminal justice, was chosen by the Burnett Honors College to apply for the DEA Honors Summer Internship. The DEA selected her and 12 other students nationwide.

"I feel like I got a good taste of what the DEA is about and what agents do," Daniels said. "[The internship] was much more than I anticipated and I learned more than I ever thought I could as an intern."

Forty-hour work weeks began with the "Diversion Investigators," who investigate and regulate medicinal drugs. A scheduled rotation between task forces soon had her assisting a drug task force that mostly dealt with marijuana. Daniels assisted agents with evidence, discovery and worked with telephone records. The last assignment on Daniels' rotation was the Heroin Task Force.

"I spent the majority of my internship with the Heroin Task Force," Daniels said. "I specifically worked with the agents who investigate heroin overdoses and who let me tag along on pretty much everything they did. I went to crime scenes, autopsies, on interviews, helped send subpoenas for phone records and investigate the cases."

As a result of the time spent on the overdose cases, Daniels has decided to write her undergraduate thesis on the topic. Titled, "Difficulties Investigating and Prosecuting Heroin Overdose Cases," the project has kept her in close contact with many of the special agents she encountered during the internship. Daniels said DEA agents, the U.S. Attorneys' Office and medical examiners have been more than willing to provide her support for the project.

"I hope to become a federal agent, and I'm currently biased to choosing the DEA because of my experience," Daniels said.

While the last month was a "crazy" time, according to Daniels, who had 12 hours of fall classes and 15 hours of volunteer work, on top of the full-time internship, a career as a federal agent has become the plan for her future.