“The whole focus is going after violent criminals: Violent criminals who are using guns, violent criminals who are not supposed to have guns but do, in fact, have guns,” DeWine said. “The whole focus is to go into the community with the sheriff’s office, with the police department, and focus on the violent repeat offenders.”
DeWine started by talking about the assets they bring in to help, which are locally driven and led by the Springfield Police Division, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
They bring in aviation with helicopters, which DeWine said they did Thursday night and again Friday, liquor control agents, a canine unit, the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center (ONIC), parole officers from the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, and others.
“That is something that really does help a lot, it gives coordination. If you’re looking for someone ... (it) many times results in a much safer operation because the person can’t really run and it cuts down on a lot of high-speed chases, so it is a safety measure,” he said.
Andy Wilson, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety and former Clark Count prosecutor, said the operations are data driven and focused on violent crime, getting people who are illegally carrying and using guns, and getting those guns and people off the street.
The first night of the operation Thursday resulted in five felony arrests, eight people with warrants and eight parole violators, as well as recovering drugs including meth, cocaine, crack and pills.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that the work that was done by the sheriff’s deputies who were on this task force last night, the police officers who were on this task force in getting guns and getting felons off the street will save lives. These are guns that won’t be on the street because of the work that they’ve done, guns of otherwise been used in a crime,” Wilson said.
Sheriff Deb Burchett said they’ve done several blitzes, as they call them, and have taken “the bad guys” and some guns off the streets. She said even if they can get just one, they have still accomplished something.
Police Chief Allison Elliot said the “driving point” of this initiative is to get violent criminals off the street to make the community safer.
“The whole reason for this is for safer operations for our community and for the police department and our officers involved,” she said. “It’s not to be scary or concerned, it’s so people understand that together, we are all better and we can do things much better.”
The state has to be asked for help before going into the county or city, DeWine said, so they have reached out to communities and told them they have these assets if they do need the help.
“We just have access to resources that locals just don’t have. The governor’s philosophy in this space has always been don’t go in and tell people how to do their job, but bring those resources to help and assist in every way we can to help them deal with the unique problems that each jurisdiction has,” Wilson said.
DeWine said the Clark County law enforcement departments should be congratulated for using the states resources because that’s what they’re there for.
“We want to make them available, and I think that the citizens of Springfield, the citizens of Clark County, will be very happy that they did reach out to us and are utilizing those assets that we do have,” he said.
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