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YPD chief vows to continue stepped-up efforts
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Law enforcement confiscated this revolver during last weekend’s Operation Shield initiative. The gun was one of several police rounded up and put on display during a Tuesday press conference.
YOUNGSTOWN
Police Chief Rod Foley said officers intend to offer many criminals the tools to leave behind a life of crime — and handcuffs to those who refuse to do so.
Foley said the department, along with law enforcement and community partners, will meet next Wednesday and May 10 in an effort to identify and start a database of known gang members and repeat criminals.
He said the department is hoping to offer those involved in the criminal lifestyle the needed tools to live productive lives.
Foley said those who continue to break the law and terrorize neighborhoods, however, will be rounded up in stepped-up police efforts such as Operation Shield, which was conducted throughout the city last weekend.
Operation Shield involved city police, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the FBI, Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force, Mahoning County Juvenile Probation Department, Ohio Adult Parole Authority, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Office, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force.
Officers in the operation conducted 407 traffic stops, arrested 48 people, issued 33 tickets, issued 216 warnings, confiscated $1,196 and recovered seven guns with arrests of those carrying the firearms.
“These types of initiatives are very productive, and you will see a lot more of this over the coming weeks and months,” Foley said. “I am very happy with the efforts we put out there.”
Members of law enforcement and the city prosecutor’s office displayed many of the items confiscated by police during the initiative. Firearms of virtually every size sat on a table at the Mahoning County South Side Annex building alongside marijuana, ammunition and bags of money.
Foley said police will check the guns to determine if they have been used in crimes.
“My focus this year will be guns, guns, guns. We will be rewarding officers for confiscating illegal guns,” Foley said.
City Prosecutor Dana Lantz said the initiative was one of the most-successful, stepped-up enforcement initiatives she has seen. She said municipal court saw a record number of video arraignments after the initiative, and not just for misdemeanor crimes. She said most of the arrests were for more-serious crimes.
“This was a focused attack on crime in the city,” she said. “This helps us identify people involved in these types of crimes and the selling and buying of drugs.”
Wes Skeels, chief probation officer in juvenile court, said his office will continue its ongoing efforts at identifying gang members in the city. Those efforts, he said, are beneficial during initiatives such as Operation Shield but continue long after the two-day initiative ends.
Foley said police officers also will focus on gang members and gang issues, hoping to offer those in the lifestyle the tools and community resources needed to change.
He said the department will continue cracking down on those who refuse to abandon gang life.
“Unfortunately, we cannot stop every homicide out there, but we can home in on the ones that are gang-related,” he added.