Posted: 5:36 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, 2014

Police task force making city ‘less desirable for the less desirable’

By Ed Richter

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

    The latest crime sweep by Middletown’s special police task force in the Sherman Park/Crawford Street area resulted in 19 felony arrests for drugs and 11 others for various misdemeanors, according to police officials.

    The Special Operations Unit also served 17 bench warrants, issued nine criminal summonses and 17 misdemeanor citations and made 31 traffic stops. The task force did saturation patrols in the neighborhood between Sept. 22 and Nov. 1 with a focus on drug enforcement.

    City officials hope the task force’s crime crackdown will make Middletown “less desirable for the less desirable” while improving quality of life and eliminating nuisances.

    In addition to patrolling the Sherman Park/Crawford Street area, the task force returned to the Church Street area — where they have previously conducted a crime sweep — to execute a search warrant in the 1700 block of Columbia Avenue. Sgt. David Birk of the Special Operations Unit said charges are pending on that search.

    “They (the task forces) are very effective and provide an instant impact for residents,” Birk said. “But task forces have to be flexible to go to areas where the stats takes us to.”

But even when there is a focused enforcement effort in one neighborhood, Birk said it only displaces the offenders to another area. He said there were 15 people arrested or issued summonses during this task force effort who were repeat offenders such as for drugs or prostitution.

    “It’s a constant battle, but we’re doing the best we can with what we have now,” he said.

    Birk said a number of the arrests made were the result of residents calling in anonymous tips to the police hotline.

    “I know a lot of them (residents) are thankful,” he said. “The hotline takes us to various locations.”

    During the task force effort, Middletown police and the Ohio Highway Patrol teamed up Oct. 9-11 for a three-day saturation enforcement to combat drug and traffic offenses that made 220 traffic stops and contacts and netted 65 arrests and 155 warnings in the Sherman Park and Oakland Park areas. The effort was funded through an overtime grant from the state and supplemented the task force effort that was already in operation.

    Between July 28 and Sept. 16, police focused on the Church Street area where 85 charges, including 12 felony arrests, were made against 85 people, according to police. During that effort, one person who was arrested called that area “the skillet” because of the focused enforcement.

    Police ask residents who see drug activity or a crime to call the Police Tip Hotline at 513-425-7749 or police dispatch at 513-425-7700.