DeWine meets with local law enforcement

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine was in town Monday to meet with local law enforcement officials a number of crime-related issues, with the heroin problem first and foremost on everybody’s agenda.

DeWine and members of his staff met with Van Wert County Sheriff Tom Riggenbach and Deputies Keith Allen and Dennis Wagonrod, Van Wert Police Chief Joel Hammond, County Prosecutor Charles F. Kennedy III and Assistant Prosecutor Martin Burchfield and County Coroner Dr. Scott Jarvis to discuss various crime-related issues and provide information on ways his office can help local law enforcement officials.

“My job, as I see it, is to work every day to protect Ohio families,” DeWine said following the roundtable discussion held at the sheriff’s office on North Market Street. “The way we do that is through working with these folks here. We supply them with help, whether it be our crime lab or the unit that comes out to do training … (or) handling a crime scene.

In addition to providing legal assistance, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office also provides crime scene investigators through its Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and training through its Ohio Peace Officers Academy, both based in Madison County. DeWine also noted that his office is working on several initiatives with the crime laboratory at Bowling Green State University.

“Sometimes people don’t know exactly what we have available, so I’m trying to make sure everybody knows,” the attorney general added. “But, also, I’m listening to them to find out what else we can do for them.”

The chief issue on everybody’s minds was the increase in heroin usage throughout the state – an issue DeWine said has been the chief topic in all of the roundtable discussions held so far.

“Heroin is in every county,” the attorney general stated, while noting that the problem is getting worse each year.

“Heroin used to be confined to major cities; we expect to find it in Toledo, Fort Wayne, Dayton,” DeWine said, “but it’s everywhere now: it’s in Van Wert, Mercer, in every county.”

The impact of the cheap heroin being brought into the state from Mexico is also being felt across the state, the attorney general said.

“Last year it killed close to 900 people in Ohio,” DeWine said. “We lose more people in all drug deaths than we do in auto accidents, and there’s no easy answer.”

With prisons already full, and the fact that first-time offenders accused of fourth- and fifth-degree felonies don’t qualify for prison time, DeWine said community treatment is crucial, adding that he would also like to see citizens groups organized in communities around the state to help combat the burgeoning drug problem.

“If I could do one thing with a magic wand, I would have some very vigorous citizens groups in every community in the state,” he noted, adding that his office provides assistance for such groups. “People in this room aren’t going to solve the drug problem. We can do our part, and we can do the law enforcement part, but there’s also treatment and there’s, almost more importantly, education and prevention.”

DeWine said education and prevention are critical to drug interdiction. “Stop somebody from doing that (taking drugs) the first time, because when they do it, they have a huge, huge problem,” he explained. “They’re horribly strong addictions and it’s hard for people to get off it.”

The attorney general said community groups already established in Union and Scioto counties are having some success with drug problems in those counties, and also noted that anyone interested in organizing such a group should call his office for assistance.

Local law enforcement officials have continually cited heroin as the area’s biggest enforcement problem and Sheriff Riggenbach reinforced that opinion after the roundtable on Monday.

“It’s a big problem,” the sheriff said, adding, “There’s resources available to us through (the attorney general’s) office that assist us in our investigation, not just the heroin, but other drugs as well, but everybody knows heroin is a big issue.”

Sheriff Riggenbach was grateful for DeWine’s visit to the county, and the attorney general’s assistance on county issues.

“Just being able to hear some of the things he talked about that area available, resource-wise, through his office,” the sheriff cited as important. “At the sheriff’s office, we use those resources anytime can to assist us.”

Sheriff Riggenbach particularly cited crime scene assistance provided by BCI for local break-ins and burglaries, as well as assistance in prosecuting cases at the local level.

Assistance from the state in transitioning the sheriff’s office from an antiquated records filing system was also cited by the sheriff as helpful.

“We switched from the old system that we had had and went with what he (DeWine) provided, Sheriff Riggenbach said. “We’ve seen some positives come out of that.”

And, while DeWine noted he didn’t hear anything new come out of his roundtable discussion in Van Wert, the attorney general said meeting with local officials was still important, if only to let them know what kinds of assistance his office can provide.

“I want to make sure they all know what we have,” he said.

Other roundtables are scheduled today in Defiance, Paulding, Putnam and Marion counties.