On Tuesday afternoon, representatives from local, state and federal law enforcement, as well as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, came together in Warren to give an update on this year's efforts to curb violent gun-related crimes in the Valley. Working together, police and agents have managed to seize nearly 147 illegal weapons, with more than 100 of those seized in Youngstown alone.
Officials said the effort shows how law enforcement can work together to get the job done.
"They care only about getting guns and criminals off the streets, not about turf. This is really the anti-turf effort because nobody here has been concerned for one second about who gets the credit. It's more just about who gets arrested," said Steven Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Dettelbach also said federal authorities are working with both the Youngstown Police Department and Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority, as well as local social service agencies, to curb gang activity in the area to help further reduce violent crimes. That program will be known as "Operation Forecast."
"It's an effort between police, the housing authority and social service providers to share data and to track crime trends to better predict trouble spots so they can bring resources, not just law enforcement resources, but social services resources, to prevent crime in those areas," Dettelbach said.
Every single federal and state law-enforcement agency involved here demonstrated over and over again that they care only about getting guns and criminals off the streets — not about turf,” he said. “This is really the anti-turf effort because nobody here has been concerned for one second about who gets credit. It’s more just about who gets arrested.”
Dettelbach pointed to the Sept. 1 arrest of two Pennsylvania men on McCartney Road in Youngstown as being among the more successful efforts this year.
Officers arrested three men in a Jeep Cherokee trying to sell seven shotguns and three rifles in the city that they had stolen from a home in Enon Valley, Pa., earlier in the day. They were Billy H. Gray Jr., 44, of Enon Valley and Troy D. Hockeyberry, 29, of Ellwood City. Both were prohibited from possessing firearms because of previous felony convictions.
On Sept. 3, Mill Creek Park police arrested Jeremy Betts, 26, of Campbell after finding him in possession of a sawed-off shotgun that he had concealed in a stroller that was carrying a baby.
In both cases, the suspects are being prosecuted through the federal courts.
Dettelbach said his office is also working on a anti-gang initiative in Youngstown that includes “Operation Forecast,” which involves the Youngstown Police Department, Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority and social- service providers sharing data to track crime trends.
Warren Police Chief Tim Bowers thanked U.S. Marshal Peter Elliott for working “side by side” with his officers and sheriff’s deputies.
The V-GRIP concept has grown since its start in 2003 and is now being used in other communities, especially Toledo and Lima and Cleveland, Dettelbach said.
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