BOARDMAN Police unit to work OT to stop crimes

The unit was created to combat crime in the township's north end.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- A unit initiated to address problems that occur during the holidays and throughout the summer has turned into a year-round, trouble-shooting tool for the police department.
The department's street crimes unit, in its third year, initially started to combat problems cropping up in the township's north end.
"We had people coming into the motels and cooking crack cocaine in the motel rooms," Chief Jeffrey Patterson said. "We were also having more problems with car break-ins."
The time frame also coincides with the genesis of the South Side Soldiers. Authorities dealt the Soldiers, a Youngstown-based gang that specialized in car thefts and vehicle break-ins, a significant blow last June when several members were charged and with criminal gang activity and jailed.
Sgt. Glen Riddle, who heads the street crimes unit, calls the crimes they deal with cost-of-living or quality-of-life crimes.
Thieves take items from your yard or break into your car.
"It may not sound like a big deal, but to the victim it is," the sergeant said. "It costs money to replace them."
Other responsibilities
The unit also serves warrants and ensures that registered sex offenders living in the township comply with their legal requirements.
SCU started as a twice-yearly operation, targeting areas in the summer and Christmas months. But this year, trustees, at Patterson's request, appropriated money from the department's overtime budget for the unit to be deployed year-round as needed.
The area mainly consists of commercial areas north of U.S. Route 224, but Riddle said his 16-member unit can be dispatched to other areas if necessary.
Patterson said the unit uses information compiled by the department's crime analyst and criminal intelligence officer to ascertain where and when crime is likely to occur.
Riddle then employs surveillance, saturation patrols with a focus on visibility, or a combination thereof to tackle and deter crime.
For an apartment complex where thieves are hitting cars, that may mean one of the canine officers walking through the complex, looking for suspicious activity.
The unit includes Riddle, both canine officers and members from both the patrol and detective divisions. All of them work with the unit on overtime in addition to their regular work assignments.
85 is ideal
The department, with 63 officers, doesn't have the personnel to take the unit to a full-time entity, Patterson said. He believes the department needs 75 officers and that 85 would be ideal.
By keeping the unit working strictly through overtime, it's a controllable expense. If the township decides it's no longer needed or that it's costing too much, it can be eliminated, the chief said.
The unit will work out of the department's new substation on Market Street, expected to open within the next few weeks. A detective assigned to burglary, one who heads the auto theft division and the crime prevention division also will work out of the substation, allowing them to compare notes and act accordingly.
The unit also has been working for about a year getting to know the residents and business people in the north end.
"We've been getting to know who belongs up there and who doesn't, especially in the evening hours," Riddle said.