Shelby Mayor Marilyn John announced Friday morning the city of Shelby is assigning an officer to the METRICH Enforcement Unit. Shelby Police Department Officer Aaron Bushey will serve on the unit.
“Officer Aaron Bushey has worked diligently along with Chief Roub over the last couple of years to improve and increase his drug expertise, and he is now considered a drug expert. This provides a great resource not only to the city of Shelby Police Department, but to other police departments throughout our area. I know he will be a valuable resource to METRICH and we are thrilled to be able to send him over there,” said John.
Officer Bushey has been an officer of the Shelby Police Department for ten years and will remain an employee with the department, but will also be assigned to METRICH. John explained that the city of Shelby has partnered with METRICH for many years, but this will be the first time in Shelby’s history that an officer will acutally be assigned to the unit.
METRICH, begun in 1986, is a funded investigative unit that works to reduce the availability of illegal drugs in Richland County.
Mayor John said that assigning Bushey to METRICH became a possibility when the city partnered with Pioneer Career and Technology Center last year for a school resource officer. Officer Paul Zehner was placed as the school resource officer at Pioneer at the beginning of this school year.
“That really made this possible because Officer Zehner has been able to take care of a lot of calls that we would have had to send officers out to handle. First and foremost, having a school resource officer on school property has provided a sense of security for the students and faculty but also a sense of security for parents,” said John.
“This has allowed us to place Officer Bushey with METRICH and we are thrilled to make that happen. Thank you to Pioneer for the partnership and also thank you to the Shelby City Council for recognizing the importance of this,” added John.
METRICH leader and Mansfield Police Chief Ken Coontz expressed how excited METRICH is to welcome Bushey.
“We are very excited for our drug task force. We have always had a good relationship with the Shelby Police Department and they have always done a great job at trying to combat drugs in the Shelby Community. They are taking one step up and making a stronger commitment. There will be more resources now to deliver to the city of Shelby and not just Shelby, but the entire county. Aaron is a very active officer and he will be a great fit,” said Coontz.
Coontz said that Bushey will continue to develop as a drug investigator through METRICH. “Our hopes are through this connection, we are going to have improvement in the areas and hopefully that will translate into physical results in the Shelby community,” said Coontz.
“We do on-the-job training and then that is supported by some national and state training that we have with different agencies. So, Aaron will be attending several of our training sessions,” said Coontz.
Coontz appreciated the concern Mayor John shows concern about the Shelby community. “She has really stepped it up and over the last couple years I have seen this area continue to grow. The school resource officer that they picked in Paul Zehner was a great choice and I am very happy that Marilyn has committed someone to METRICH Drug Task Force and we believe this will be a great relationship,” said Coontz.
Shelby Police Chief Charlie Roub shared the enthusiasm for the city of Shelby.
“It has been said that when one door closes another one opens, and in this case another one just opened. We had this discussion years ago with METRICH to get an officer there and then Officer Zehner was chosen to go to Pioneer as the school resource officer. That opened the door to add another officer to METRICH,” said Roub.
Chief Roub explained that Officer Bushey is one of the few officers in the area that is recognized as a Drug Recognition Expert. “That required a lot of training and some of the training that he received can help him recognize a person under the influence of drugs just by talking to them and some of their physical appearances. I think that will be helpful to him,” said Roub.
“I truly believe that Mayor John, Chief Roub, and Chief Coontz have the citizens of Shelby in mind when they allowed me to go METRICH. It’s a big deal and I know the Shelby officers are excited because not just Shelby, but the entire area has a problem with drugs and they have gotten worse over the years. METRICH has the resources and knowledge and our overall goal is to make the communities we live in a better place,” said Bushey.
He added, “It is a challenge that I am enjoying and I am up for. I can’t stress enough to the citizens of Shelby that if they see something and they think it is suspicious, call us. You will see results and I would love to see the citizens of Shelby flood my desk with phone calls,” said Bushey.
“I want to thank Mayor John, Chief Roub, and Chief Coontz for this opportunity. I am going to do my best and put in 110 percent effort so everything works out,” concluded Bushey.
“We have always had a good relationship with the Shelby Police Department and they have always done a great job at trying to combat drugs in the Shelby Community. There will be more resources now to deliver to the city of Shelby and not just Shelby, but the entire county,” said Mansfield Police Chief Ken Coontz.
