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State, local, US authorities fan out in Warren area for drug sting
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
More than 100 Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers and officers with Warren Police Department, Trumbull sheriff’s office and other agencies hit streets in and around Warren this weekend to attack the community’s drug problem.
After making at least 15 felony arrests and 15 drunken-driving arrests during traffic stops Friday, the massive operation dubbed Warren Shield spread out on Saturday, hitting Liberty, Brookfield, Niles, Newton Falls and Howland.
Lt. Brian Holt of the Southington Post said the undertaking also involved key warrant arrests early Friday and was the biggest highway-patrol-led “shield” operation of its type ever conducted in Ohio in terms of the number of personnel.
It was also the first one to include a treatment component that involved taking people arrested on drug charges and giving them the opportunity at Warren Police Department “command post” to talk to a drug counselor with the goal of getting them help immediately for their addiction.
The operation was scheduled to end at 6 a.m. today, though Holt said the drug problem in the Warren area is big enough that “Warren Shield” will continue in coming weeks and months to address the unprecedented spike in overdose deaths this year.
Trumbull County’s coroner, Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, said recently the county was on a pace to double the number of overdose deaths in 2015 than ever before.
Holt and Warren Police Chief Eric Merkel said there were seven drug overdoses in five hours in the city on a recent Friday night.
Warren Shield is supported by Gov. John Kasich in response to the spike in deaths and a conference call between the governor’s cabinet and several local officials, including state Rep. Sean O’Brien of Bazetta Township, D-63rd, who alerted the governor to the problem last month.
Those conversations led to the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services providing Trumbull County with 100 free Naloxone kits, which can reverse an overdose. Seventy of them are in the hands of Warren police. Half of its officers have been trained in using the drug and now carry the kits in their cruisers, Merkel said. His department was providing 16 officers Friday and 16 Saturday.
After seeing two days’ worth of overwhelming police presence in Warren, city resident John Patterson, 29, said he was walking everywhere because his driver’s license is suspended.
He said he first learned that something was going on by reading it on Facebook at noon Friday and has been amazed by how many agencies are making traffic stops, even chasing people on foot, with some officers in unmarked cars.
“I saw cops in riot gear, bullet-proof vests. People are saying it’s like martial law,” he said.
Patterson, who was outside a North Park Avenue gas station at the time, said he knows Warren has a drug problem, but the response seems out of proportion. “It’s like Code Orange from the White House,” he said, referring to a designation that means authorities have credible evidence of a planned terrorist attack.
Holt said Warren does have a problem with crime, including heroin- related and weapons-related offenses.
“Per capita, we’re right there with the big cities,” he said of Warren.
“I will deem it successful if we are able to get a significant amount of narcotics off the street,” Holt said, noting that one traffic stop Friday or Saturday yielded 25 pounds of marijuana. “We’re seeing a significant number of handguns and rifles,” he added.
“And the most successful part of this mission was, we were able to secure treatment for numerous opiate addicts.”
After being processed for a drug crime, individuals were moved to another area of the command center at WPD to be introduced to treatment professionals and someone who could help them sign up for Medicaid, which can pay for drug treatment.
Holt said it’s believed that addicts will be the most receptive to getting help after getting caught. Those who go through the regular process of jail, arraignment and the rest of the process may not be able to start treatment quickly enough to succeed , he said.
By Saturday afternoon, Mike McDonaugh, social worker with Coleman Behavioral Health, said he had talked with a 21-year-old male heroin addict about getting treatment as early as Monday at the new First Step treatment center on Youngstown Road.
And a woman pulled over purportedly for drunken driving while having two children in the car was taken to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital for behavioral health and medical issues she’s having.
“She had help instead of sending her to jail, where she may not have received complete treatment,” McDonaugh said. “We worked with the officers to get her the treatment she needed.”
April Caraway, executive director of Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board, said she made arrangements to have at least two treatment beds available starting Monday at First Step. There also will be follow-up at the Trumbull County jail for those who went there, she said.
The Vindicator was among several news organizations that rode along with troopers Friday afternoon and agreed not to report on details of the operation until it was about over.
Richelle Hedrick, owner of Rock Bottom Cafe on North Park Avenue, said Friday afternoon she had been told that some sort of “drug sting” was taking place, and she appreciated it.
“I heard they’re looking for drugs. We need it,” she said. “I’d love for Warren and North Park to get cleaned up.”
“We are going to stop people for anything or everything,” Holt said Friday, adding that if the traffic stop didn’t produce evidence of a significant crime or drug problem, the person was going to be released with just a warning.
“We don’t want this to be viewed as harassment,” Holt said. “We’re trying to improve public safety. This is a no-holds-barred operation. Our goal is to improve the quality of life in and around Warren.”
Holt said traffic stops are an effective way to find people who have a drug problem because 97 percent of crime involves a motor vehicle. An arrest can be a life-changing event, causing a person to deal with their addiction, he said.
Other agencies involved include the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation; Trumbull County Adult Probation; and U.S. Marshal’s Service.