MANSFIELD — Local law enforcement agencies, led by the Mansfield Police Department Community Action Team, confiscated five handguns and made 10 felony drug arrests Saturday night, according to Chief Jason Bammann.
The chief said the “Saturation Detail” was aimed at continuing to curb gun violence in the city, which he said has been an ongoing effort for the last 18 months.
The MPD investigated 12 gun homicides in 2023, a record high.
The CAT team was assembled in late 2022 with the mission of “prevention, interdiction and solutions” on issues including surveillance, violent offenders, firearms, gang enforcement, street racing/cruising and quality-of-life issues.
The new CAT began work late in 2022, but stepped up its efforts after attending training at the National Gang Crime Research Center conference in Chicago in March 2023.
The chief said more than 50 law enforcement officers were involved Saturday night from a variety of agencies.
“With operations like this, we do our intelligence collecting, look at what’s going on around the city and identify the people and groups that are the most violent offenders in our city,” Bammann said.
“The goal of the operation was to saturate those areas with a visible law enforcement presence and apprehend criminal offenders to enhance public safety.”
He said the operation, which began at 6 p.m. and continued for six or seven hours, was made possible with the assistance from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Ohio Adult Parole Authority; the Ohio Investigative Unit, the Ohio State Highway Patrol aviation and vehicle theft units; Richland County Adult Probation and the Richland County Sheriff’s Office.
He said an OSHP helicopter was used as “oversight” in the event a suspect fled on foot or a car chase ensued.
The operation yielded the following statistics, according to Bammann:
— 67 car stops
— 40 field interviews
— 11 APA house checks
— 10 felony drug cases and numerous misdemeanor arrests
— vehicle theft arrest
— One drunk-driving arrest
— Five gun seizures
— Three reports of shots fired
The chief said the five-member CAT team’s intelligence gathering efforts helped point the operation in the right areas.
“Everything is based off crime stats, where the most recent shootings have occurred, trying to use some real-time data in the approach,” he said.
“That data coincides with individuals we have identified as the most violent. That’s why we went into the areas we did,” Bammann said.
He said future similar operations will be planned.
“We are excited about the numbers we saw, the guns and materials we seized and the intelligence we collected,” the chief said.
