Law Enforcement Liasion & Violent Crime Reduction Expert
Eric Harden began his ATF career in 1990, as a Special Agent in Los Angeles, California, focusing on firearms and narcotics trafficking and criminal street gangs. In 1999, Eric was promoted to the position of Supervisory Special Agent, leading several offices within the Los Angeles Field Division. Eric was relocated to Washington, DC in 2003, where he worked on drafting national-level firearms trafficking regulations. In 2005, Eric returned to the Los Angeles Field Division to serve as the Supervisory Special Agent of the Los Angeles Field Division Major Case Group. Under his leadership, the group prosecuted some of the Los Angeles Field Division 39’s most notorious investigations, resulting in the indictment, arrest, and federal prosecution or plea of over 500 defendants who received 10-year, 20-year, or life sentences.
Eric was one of the architects of the ATF-led Violent Crime Impact Team (VCIT) initiative, an effort that leveraged innovative technology, analytical investigative resources, and an integrated federal, state, and local law enforcement strategy to identify, target, disrupt, arrest, and prosecute the worst of the worst criminals in specific areas of the United States. Eric has also served as the Supervisory Special Agent of the Los Angeles Intelligence Group where he managed a diverse workforce tasked with providing timely, accurate, and focused intelligence through the collection and analysis of information in support of reducing violent crime.
Eric has dedicated his life and career to quelling the gang violence that affected his friends, family, and community with an emphasis on the development and implementation of successful violent crime and firearms-related violence reduction strategies. Concurrent to his investigative work, Eric served as a member of the ATF Special Response Team.
A native Californian, Eric was heavily recruited as a running back out of high school by most Ivy League colleges and chose to attend Stanford University receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. Eric was appointed the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Los Angeles Field Division in October 2015.
As the Special Agent in Charge, Eric was responsible for ATF operations in Southern California and neighboring Yuma, Arizona. At the time of his appointment, Eric was serving as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Division, and in a provisional appointment as the Special Agent in Charge of the San Francisco Field Division. Eric retired on Dec. 31, 2017, after 27 years of service.