Ashland drug detectives ask for more manpower, treatment for addicts

ASHLAND — Ashland Police Department detective Brian Evans and Ashland County Sheriff’s Office detective Monica Viloria made it clear Thursday night.

They need help in the fight against drugs.

That was the main message the two shared at Ashland University’s Ronk Lecture Hall in the Dwight Schar College of Education as part of an ongoing community conversation about local illegal drug problems.

Evans and Viloria are the only detectives in Ashland County dedicated full-time to narcotics cases. The workload is high, and the shortage of manpower means not everything that could be done is being done, the pair said. 

If money were no object, Evans said, the county would have its own drug task force team of about six people. The task force would include representatives of the city police department, the county sheriff’s office and the Loudonville police department, and all six people would work side-by-side from a central office to share intelligence and assist with cases. 

Realistically, though, both Evans and Viloria said they would each be happy with one more narcotics detective for each of their respective agencies. 

Evans said there were two narcotics detectives and a narcotics secretary when he started at the Ashland Police Department in 1997. Since then, illegal drug use has increased, but staffing has decreased. 

“I’m not saying you can arrest your way out of this problem, but we definitely need more than what we have, which is two people doing this for the whole county,” Evans said. 

Asked whether having additional detectives would lead to reduced illegal drug use in the county, Viloria said she believes that on paper, the number of drug cases would likely go up because law enforcement agencies could be more proactive in investigations. That said, she said additional manpower likely would be a deterrent for some users and dealers. Though it might not actually reduce illegal drug use, she believes it could slow or stop the growth of drug use. 

In addition to more manpower, the duo said they would like to see more treatment for recovering drug addicts when released from jail. They also want to see more drug abuse prevention education in K-12 schools and a better-educated public that understands both the dangers of various drugs and the signs that point to illegal drug use. 

While Evans attempted to quantify the increasing toll illegal drug use is taking on the community, he emphasized his numbers account for only drug cases he has been able to investigate. Many more instances of drug use go on in the county every day. 

Ashland is part of the 10-county METRICH Enforcement Unit, a law enforcement cooperative aimed at stopping illegal drugs. Thus far in 2018, the METRICH drug enforcement unit has received 221 drug intelligence reports in Ashland County. For comparison, Evans said, there were just 63 reports in all of 2011. 

Of the 123 METRICH cases investigated in Ashland County in 2017, 65 were heroin cases, 37 were crystal meth cases, 19 were prescription drug cases, 12 were cocaine cases, 10 were marijuana cases, two were weapons cases, two were meth lab cases and one was a psilocybin mushroom case. Some of these cases involved multiple drugs. 

Viloria said the sheriff’s office has had 56 narcotics complaints so far this year, up from 54 last year. In 2011, there were just 26. 

“The problem isn’t going away,” she said. “It’s multiplying.”

Throughout 2017, the county saw 64 drug overdoses, with four of those resulting in death. Evans said while the number of overdoses is going up, the number of overdose deaths is going down, largely because of the use of the overdose reversal drug Narcan. 

Last year, 75 people were charged or indicted on a total of 143 felony counts in Ashland County drug cases.  

Though heroin is still a top priority for METRICH, Evans noted a 125 percent increase in meth cases from 2016 to 2017. The increase in heroin and fentanyl cases in that same time was about 30 percent. 

Because of the tendency of meth users to be armed and paranoid, Evans said, they are more likely to present a risk to the community.  

The community conversation about illegal drug use began several months ago when the Center For Civic Life at Ashland University and the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Ashland County teamed up to hold a forum about how the Ashland community should respond to the opiate epidemic. That forum led to a community conversation in April, which yielded the formation of a committee unofficially called Ashland County Committee to Reduce Illegal Drug Activity. Learning about the recent rise of meth use in the Ashland area, the committee broadened its focus to all illegal drugs, rather than just opiates like heroin. 

The committee has met twice and has decided to hold a series of informational sessions looking at various existing responses to the drug crisis. Thursday’s law enforcement session was just the first in that series, but committee members plan to bring in representatives from the education, treatment and faith-based communities. 

After hearing from all the speakers, former Ashland County Prosecutor and local attorney Bob DeSanto said, the committee will come up with a set of recommendations to reduce illegal drug use in the county.   

Suspected drug activity can be reported to Ashland Police at 419-289-3639, Ashland County Sheriff’s Office at 419-289-3911 or the METRICH Crime Tip Hotline at 419-522-7463.