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Countywide task force to combat drugs, violence

Sheriff says he expects more departments to join the RANGE task force in the coming months.

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By Doug Page, Staff Writer Updated 10:49 PM Tuesday, June 1, 2010

DAYTON — The increase tide of heroin into the Miami Valley and the decreasing resources of law enforcement sparked Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer to form a countywide task force to bring shared resources to bear on drugs, gun violence and gangs.

The Regional Agencies Narcotics & Gun Enforcement Task Force, or RANGE, has the goal “to handle the drug problem in our community, especially heroin, that reaches all areas of the county,” Plummer said Tuesday, June 1, in announcing the task force and swearing in officers from five localities as sheriff’s deputies.

The task force also will take on serial burglars and robbers, Plummer said.

“This is vital to the community,” said Jim Deir of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco, which is partnering with the task force. “Narcotics trafficking is fueling gangs, and with them comes handguns, automatic weapons and semiautomatic weapons.”

Plummer said the task force will be funded through assets seized from drug dealers. “They are sitting on lots of money. We’ll take their money and use it against them,” he said.

Besides ATF, the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification, Trotwood Police Department, Clayton Police Department, Five Rivers Metro Parks Police, Miami Twp. Police and Perry Twp. Police are cooperating with the Sheriff’s Department.

Plummer said he expects more departments to join the task force, which currently has 12 officers operating both full time and part time for the past month. As sheriff’s deputies, local city and township officers will have countywide jurisdiction.

“We’re reaching out to all the agencies in the county,” Plummer said.

“We appreciate this opportunity,” Clayton Police Chief Rick Rose said. “It gives us resources that aren’t normally there for our small department.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2290

or dpage@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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