READ MORE: Springfield drug epidemic spreads, overdoses surpass all of last year
Troopers in Clark County have made 36 felony drug arrests so far in 2017, but that number will likely go up, said Lt. Brian Aller, Springfield Post Commander for the state patrol. That’s because several drug cases are awaiting test results from the lab, he said.
“We’ll have an influx of numbers as well within the next few months,” he said.
The increase in drug arrests may be because of increased enforcement and training, Aller said.
“We have a lot more troopers that are trained and being trained as criminal patrol units and that’s their only job is to get dope off the road,” he said.
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The trooper presence was welcomed by traveler Jay Bezdek, a Wichita, Kansas, resident who was driving on Interstate 70 this week toward Columbus and was stopped at the rest stop in Clark County.
“We see a lot of blue lights flashing and people pulled over and stopped in the median to check for speeders,” Bezdek said.
It made him feel safer on the road to know they’re doing their job, he said.
“The more presence,” he said, “the more they’re out there, certainly you feel safer.”
The state has also seen an increase in impaired driving arrests, he said, although troopers have started to be more detailed in the way they report impaired driving.
“If you have a drug problem in your city, you have a huge OVI problem as well,” Aller said. “Here we vary between 30 and 40 percent of our impaired driving arrests are drug related.”
DETAILS: State patrol to set up OVI checkpoints in Clark County
Aller is a drug recognition expert. He has special training to determine what kind of drugs a person is on through a series of evaluations.
Those skills are needed now more than ever, he said.
“We need more (experts),” he said. “Currently we have about 209.”
That number encompasses all law enforcement agencies across Ohio.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s getting better,” he said of the heroin epidemic in Clark County.
Residents can help the state patrol. Anyone who sees what they believe is an impaired driver should call 9-1-1 or #677 to reach the highway patrol, Aller said.
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