Gov. Kelly Ayotte campaigned on a pledge to not “Mass up New Hampshire.” Now, striking a partnership with a Massachusetts mayor, she’s allocating more money toward law enforcement to curb drug trafficking.

“New Hampshire law enforcement continue to see the disturbing impact of the trafficking of the deadly fentanyl into our state,” Ayotte said in a press conference Monday. “That poison is being trafficked into our state, obviously from high-level drug cartels, and the city of Lawrence is experiencing the same thing.”

In keeping with the governor’s staunch support of law enforcement, this expansion comes in the form of more funding for Operation Granite Shield, which awards grants to local police departments for narcotics-related resources and investigations. Ayotte hasn’t yet disclosed how much more money will go toward that program. She presents her draft of the budget to the Legislature on Thursday.

While Granite Shield focuses mostly on the southern portion of the state, Ayotte said she’ll also fund “an effort that is focused on the North Country,” too. She has already pledged to continue Chris Sununu’s Northern Border Alliance, which allocates more money to police departments near the border. The alliance started with $1.4 million in funding in 2023, which has been used in part to pay for overtime and new equipment.

Ayotte said she also hopes to foster more communication, intelligence sharing and cooperation between Lawrence and New Hampshire law enforcement and prosecutors.

Overdose deaths have declined of late, but she said New Hampshire needs to be “constantly vigilant” on the issue.

“The way that we can be most effective of going after these cases is by working together,” Ayotte said, “because unfortunately these drugs do flow over the border from Massachusetts and then New Hampshire and vice versa.”

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, subscribe to her Capital Beat newsletter and send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.