To protect lives, keep ‘Shield’ operating at maximum force

State, local and federal crime fighters teamed up over the weekend in a remarkably strong and cooperative show of force to prove they mean business in lessening the drug scourge menacing Warren and Trumbull County.

By all accounts, their 48-hour weekend offensive that netted about 60 arrests on drug, gun, drunken-driving and other charges must be deemed an unqualified success. Thankful kudos therefore are owed to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, lead agency in the sting, and the able-bodied and skillful assistance it received from the Warren Police Department, Trumbull County Sheriff’s Department, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation; Trumbull County Adult Probation and the U.S. Marshal’s Service. The success of such a united front should be duplicated with similar Shield operations this spring and summer not only in the Warren area but also throughout the Mahoning Valley.

Warren Shield, the largest patrol-organized drug sting of its kind in the history of the agency, began early Friday morning and continued through early Sunday morning. During those hyper productive 48 hours, participating agencies made more than 600 traffic stops in Warren and surrounding areas that netted 60 arrests and produced 107 criminal charges. Countless drugs and guns also were seized over those two days.

Yes, the operation was aggressive and mammoth. Some Warren residents even likened it to martial law. But mammoth problems demand mammoth and aggressive responses.

And few would dispute that the drug problem in Trumbull County is not mammoth. On a recent Friday night, for example, Warren police reported five drug overdose cases. In a one-week span in April, Trumbull County authorities reported 30 overdoses and eight deaths. Such distressing numbers speak to an urgent call for help to rid the streets of illicit drugs that too often spur criminal activity and ruin lives.

ANSWERING THE CALL

Shield answered the call with a multi-pronged approach that not only focused on apprehension of dealers, users and other criminal elements. It also for the first time placed a premium on treatment for users. It involved taking people arrested on drug charges and giving them the opportunity at the Warren Police Department to talk to a drug counselor for immediate help for their addiction.

After all, fighting the war on drugs in general and the plague of heroin and opiate abuse in particular demands a comprehensive and coordinated blitz from many fronts: law enforcers, drug-treatment providers, lawmakers and public officials at all strata of government.

That’s why it’s been particularly encouraging this spring to witness the swift, firm and concrete response of state officials from Gov. John Kasich on down to the urgent appeals for help from Valley leaders, most notably state Rep. Sean O’Brien of Bazetta, D-63rd. Last month, the governor and his Cabinet dispatched 500 Narcan kits, a heroin antidote, to police and drug agencies in Trumbull County. This month, they gave the green light to launch Warren Shield.

Those two successful initiatives have proved that our tax dollars truly are at work to minimize the drug plague and increase the quality of life in neighborhoods throughout the Mahoning Valley. They also have proved that this is no time to let down our guard. Given its initial conquests, Shield must remain on active duty to slowly but surely increase public safety and decrease the toll on lives and communities that the anguishing heroin epidemic has wrought.