The heroin epidemic remains the biggest challenge facing METRICH, according to Mansfield Police Chief Ken Coontz. The 10-county decentralized drug task force celebrated 28 years of collaboration during its annual meeting Thursday afternoon at the Ontario Event Center.
Coontz outlined the task force’s top 5 goals for 2014, with heroin removal topping the list. According to the chief, METRICH has confiscated 1,336.72 grams of heroin so far in 2014, far exceeding its goal of 586 grams. The task force’s goals were based on three-year averages.
Coontz said the task force is below expectations for its second goal, prescription drug removal, but that’s largely due to the overwhelming heroin problem.
“It (heroin) has consumed most of our unit’s time,” Coontz said.
Another major goal for METRICH is serving search warrants. Coontz said that serving search warrants “improves the quality of life in a neighborhood.” The task force has nearly doubled its 2014 goal of 291 search warrants served, with 571 served already in 2014.
Other goals for 2014 included weapon removal (196 goal and 182 removed) and demand reduction (98 goal and 65 accomplished).
METRICH already has set its goals for 2015, Coontz said Thursday. Those goals include removing 647 grams of heroin, developing 278 pharmaceutical cases and conducting 387 search warrants.
Kahrlton Moore, executive director of the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, was the guest speaker for Thursday’s luncheon.
Moore said that even though there is more need for drug task forces than ever before, there is a huge effort to eliminate them.
“Some people think task forces are created to get low-level drug users in prison and that there’s a racial tone behind it,” Moore said. “At a time when we need drug task forces more than ever, people are attacking drug task forces.”
Moore said that collaborations like METRICH “are the wave of the future, and the future is now.”
“You’re trying to do more with fewer people. You’re trying to do more with less money. We’ve got to figure out a way to take what we have today and solve problems,” Moore said.
The OCJS executive director believes that strong leadership is the key to a successful collaboration, and trust is the key to strong leadership.
“A leader who people cannot trust cannot lead.”
