Saturday, December 30th, 2023
Low crime, safe towns
Cities across the United States struggle to keep up with crime. But is it an issue in Mercer and Auglaize counties?
By Daily Standard Staff
File Photo/The Daily Standard
Authorities tag evidence near Eastview Park pond in Celina where a man was fatally shot by Celina police in August.
Local law enforcement chiefs say the two-county region is relatively safe compared to urban areas but note it faces the scourge of drug addiction and the accompanying crimes of possession, trafficking and theft.
While murders and robberies are rare, local officers and deputies are often kept busy handling reports of domestic assault, theft, criminal damaging, OVI and drug offenses.
Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey said his office sees its share of drug-related offenses. His office also has seen a recent uptick in domestic violence cases, which he said is common during the holidays.
The latest available data shows the sheriff's office made 522 felony arrests and 479 misdemeanor arrests in 2020 and 462 felony arrests and 392 misdemeanor arrests in 2019.
File Photo/The Daily Standard
Mercer County total arrests.
Meth has become Mercer County's drug of choice because it's arriving freely across the U.S.-Mexico border. It's cheap, and unlike heroin, meth is not usually laced with fentanyl, an often lethal synthetic opioid, Grey said.
Grey said cartels responsible for the lion's share of meth trafficking extend their reach into states with little resistance. Most of the meth makes it way here via Dayton, he said.
Meth has emerged as a dominant drug in Mercer County over the last 15 years, according to Grey. Heroin reared its ugly head in 2008, but he said users have switched back and forth to meth and fentanyl based on whichever drug is readily available.
In response to an opioid epidemic, the sheriff's office in 2015 formed the Heroin Interdiction Team, a quick strike force that concentrates on heroin users.
Although Grey said Mercer County is "a safe place," he still urges people to pay attention and be aware of their surroundings. He thinks big city influences have quickly oozed into rural counties through the internet and modern transportation.
Grey commended local law enforcement for its accuracy and speed in investigating cases. When a grave crime does occur, Mercer County has the manpower and equipment to give it the attention it deserves, whereas big city agencies are sometimes spread thin investigating multiple serious cases at once, he said.
Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel said the city is a safe community to live, work, play and visit. Statistics from the last eight years appear to support that assertion.
"The public needs to know we are not an unsafe community," Hazel said. "I talk to seniors as well as young people. I haven't found anybody that's told me, truly, that they don't feel safe walking down the street, even at night."
File Photo/The Daily Standard
Total adult arrests in Celina 2015-02023
The total number of adult arrests fell precipitously from 649 in 2015 to 191 in 2022, according to Celina Police Chief Tom Wale's reports. There have been 136 total arrests so far this year as of August - 29 for felony crimes and 107 for misdemeanor crimes.
"Our police department has been very proactive on crime," Hazel insisted. "We push back. I have been very pleased with the results. I think our officers have done a great job by getting aheadof things."
The most prevalent criminal offenses reported in 2022 were theft, 166; OVI, 96; drug, 73; vandalism/criminal damaging, 52; domestic assault, 51; and assault, 24.
"Drugs tend to be a luring element as well as alcohol," Hazel said. "I think those will continue to be around but we stamp them out as quickly as we can."
Other criminal offenses reported in 2022 were burglary/breaking and entering, 6; rape, 9; sexual assault, 9; auto theft, 7; and forgery/fraudulent checks, 8. There were no reported criminal homicides or robberies.
The highest profile incident this year was the police-involved fatal shooting of Corey Andrew, 24, of St. Marys in August. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has yet to file a report detailing its probe of the incident.
Looking back a few years, in 2015 the most prevalent criminal offenses reported were theft, 307; vandalism/criminal damaging, 173; drug, 153; domestic assault, 101; telephone harassment, 61; assault, 59; and OVI, 57.
Residents look out for their neighbors and seniors and police officers routinely do door checks of businesses.
"Those are the kind of things that really do help deter people from even thinking about it," Hazel said. "I think there's enough people watching out for each other and that's the strength of our community because we are a pretty tight community."
File Photo/The Daily Standard
This 2022 screenshot of footage from deputy Kyle Fink's body camera shows deputy Douglas Wuebker entering a home for a search.
The total number of juvenile arrests dropped from 77 in 2015 to 50 in 2022. The figure was lower in 2021 at 17 arrests. Hazel believes patrolman Nate Miller, working as a school resource officer at Celina City Schools, has made a positive difference among the youths.
"I think it's been instrumental in him heading off some potential issues from school kids," he said.
St. Marys Police Chief Jacob Sutton said the most common crimes officers encounter are domestic disputes and domestic violence. Theft is prevalent, and domestic violence and assault incidents have remained consistent through the years.
Since assuming the role of chief in December 2017, Sutton has instructed officers to take a zero-tolerance stance on violence of any kind.
"If someone is causing harm or attempting to cause harm or making threats, we try to make an arrest," he said. "The vast majority (of complaints) end up in arrests. Our society shouldn't accept violence or intimidation."
In 2022, officers responded to 58 domestic violence events, according to the police department's annual reports. Officers have responded to an average of 53.6 domestic violence events per year since 2018.
File Photo/The Daily Standard
In this screenshot from a Celina police dashboard camera, police officers approach a Chevrolet Trailblazer that came to a stop after driver Corey Andrew was shot and killed by police on Aug. 25.
Officers last year responded to 30 assault events and have responded to an average of 26 assault events per year since 2018.
Sutton said he encourages officers to make arrests in order to gather information and ensure victims can safely leave the situation. If an arrest isn't made, it's usually because the victim does not want to file a report or there was not enough evidence, Sutton said.
"We don't want people to fear crime here, and we do that through enforcement," he said.
Overall, Sutton believes St. Marys is a safe community.
"We're not a crime-riddled city," he said. "We have proactive policing and we hold people accountable. It's very hard to drive through town without seeing a (police) cruiser. People should find comfort in that, or if you're a committing crime you should be fearful because you'll probably get caught."
The department consists of 16 full-time police officers, one of which is a full-time school resource officer. Sutton added the department has an officer who is also on the FBI task force based in Lima.
"It's made a huge difference in arrests in gun charges, drugs, other crimes that affect the area," he said. "We want to be part of the solution."
Violent crime across the U.S. decreased in 2022 - dropping to about the same level as before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic - but property crimes rose substantially, according to data in the FBI's annual crime report released in October.
Violent crime dropped 1.7%, and that included a 6.1% decrease in murder and non-negligent manslaughter. Rape decreased 5.4% and aggravated assault dropped 1.1%, but robbery increased 1.3%.
Violent crime had also decreased slightly in 2021, a big turnaround from 2020 when the murder rate in the U.S. jumped 29% during the pandemic that created huge social disruption and upended support systems.
The violent crime rate of 380.7 per 100,000 people was a tick better than 2019 - the year before the pandemic hit the U.S., when the rate was 380.8 per 100,000 people.
-The Associated Press contributed to this article.
