Ohio Governor Mike DeWine held a summit Thursday morning to discuss details of a statewide plan in order to support local and state law enforcement with intelligence gathering and forensic evidence.

 

During the summit, DeWine told Ohioans that this plan is still a work in progress, but he's optimistic that the Ohio House and Senate will be in support of it, as so far, they've been willing to go along with the budget.

 

So far, DeWine has called for $26 million to hire more staff and purchase more equipment to help local and state law enforcement agencies with drug enforcement and violent drug-related crime.

 

Additionally, DeWine has asked for doubling in support dedicated to the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center (ONIC) in order to continue to build upon its strong partnership with local law enforcement.

 

DeWine created ONIC in 2019 in order to assist authorities in unraveling complex drug trafficking investigations trhough analysis of cell phones and other electronics.

 

Since then, ONIC has in more than 3,200 criminal investigations and have examined evidence contained in over 7,500 cell phones.

 

During the summit, DeWine told multiple stories of various investigations ONIC assisted in including a multi-state multi-national investigation that spanned across many cities including Youngstown.

 

This investigation resulted in the seizure of 76 kilos of Fentanyl, 115,000 counterfeit pills containing Fentanyl and nine kilos of methamphetamine. 11 People were indicted in this case.

 

DeWine expressed his optimism with the rest of his plan passing through the House and Senate just fine.

 

"It's going to enable us over the next few years to continue to do this and continue to expand," DeWine said.