BOARDMAN Police forces form a homicide team

No homicides have occurred in any of the jurisdictions for several years.
BOARDMAN -- Police in eight communities are taking a team approach to investigating future homicides.
Officers from Beaver, Boardman, Canfield, New Middletown, Poland Township, Poland Village, Springfield and Struthers have established a multi-agency homicide team of experienced investigators who are on call for any homicide that may occur in any of those jurisdictions.
Each member department has committed at least one investigator to work with the team.
Representatives from the Mahoning County prosecutor's office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation have also been involved in the planning.
The idea was formulated during the chiefs' regular informal lunch meetings. Detectives have been meeting weekly for the last several months to iron out details in the plan. They believe they are now ready to handle virtually any situation.
New Middletown is the smallest participating department with a police force of three full-time officers and a community of less than 2,000 people. Boardman Township is the largest with a 58-officer police department in a community of about 50,000.
Lack of resources: The organization came about because the chiefs of the participating departments realized that their departments, in most cases, lack the resources to conduct a thorough homicide investigation without outside assistance, particularly when the identification of the suspect is not known.
None of the departments have the resources to maintain more than one prolonged, major investigation at a time.
No homicides have occurred in any of the jurisdictions for several years. The police chiefs say they hope the team never has to be used, but they realize their responsibility to be as prepared as possible.