Ashtabula prepares to end partnership with TAG drug task force
Changes are coming to the law enforcement group working to fight the drug epidemic in Trumbull County.
WARREN, Ohio - Changes are coming to the law enforcement group working to fight the drug epidemic in Trumbull County.
This week, Ashtabula County's prosecutor announced that on June 30, the county would be going in a different direction and would no longer be a member of the TAG Law Enforcement Drug Task Force.
The county's sheriff and prosecutor say Ashtabula is creating its own multi-jurisdictional drug enforcement task force instead.
TAG, which stood for Trumbull Ashtabula Group, will now go by the new name Trumbull Action Group, keeping the TAG acronym.
The task force is funded by multiple state and federal grants, which are continuously applied for and used to cover its budget.
As state grant dollars fizzled out, the relationship started to change.
"I think this is going to be a positive thing for both of us," said Paul Monroe, Trumbull County Sheriff. "We are still in contact with Ashtabula and these guys still work together, so when we need to combine resources, we'll continue to be there for Ashtabula."
Monroe says TAG has been busier than ever fighting the drug problem within Trumbull County.
TAG recently teamed up with a new five-member FBI task force, which will strengthen resources to fight the drug epidemic that has shifted from heroin to fentanyl and now the resurgence of cocaine.
"There's more than we can handle," Monroe said. "That's why this partnership with the FBI was such a great thing for us. They bring an added level of professionalism."
Their focus is to take drugs off the streets every day.
"We're still getting the education piece because education is important and you have to restate the message, dangers of drug use, but the enforcement piece is where we really stepped up the game," said Joe Dragovich, Chief Deputy at the sheriff's office.
Monroe said TAG is netting more arrests and drug busts at record levels since he took over as sheriff in 2017.
"We're looking to the future. We're concentrating more on Trumbull County. This opens up a little more time here for our men in Trumbull County who are doing our enforcement work," he said.
TAG commander Tony Villanueva tells 21 News that the exit of Ashtabula won't hurt the budget for the task force.
He said the amount of time and resources spent on an investigation in that county will be applied to Trumbull instead. He believes the task force won't see any major changes to its budget.
