Those words from Galion Police Detective Eric Bohach ended the hour and a half-long Galion Police and Fire Rally on Wednesday evening sponsored by the Galion Police OPBA, FOP Lodge #71 and IAFF Local #435.

They refer to the staffing cuts in the City of Galion’s current financial recovery plan, cuts which would reduce the size of Galion’s police and fire departments by two positions each. The purpose of the rally was to provide information to highlight the practical impact of those planned reductions in force, to address frequently asked questions from the community, and to urge local citizens to lobby Council to reconsider those cuts. The evening included presentations by Officer Bohach on behalf of the Galion Police Unions, and Firefighter/Paramedics Matt Wells and Mike Saurers on behalf of the local chapter of the IAFF.

Near the end of the meeting, it was noted that personal invitations had been extended to current Galion City Council members; Council President Gail Baldinger and Councilpersons Walter Keib and Cathy George were in attendance.

Galion Police Department

Information presented concerning Galion Police Department centered on the assertion that the planned reductions in force would eliminate the department’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU). To highlight the practical impact of that loss, Bohach first discussed the organization of the department, as well as the history and work of the SIU.

From the 1970s until 2004, the unit included three to four officers and was involved in the ongoing investigation and prosecution (through grand jury testimony) of local felony cases. From 2004 through 2008, however, unit was closed due to budget cuts incident to the city’s financial crisis. During this time, Bohach stated, the local drug problem exploded, as potential perpetrators knew that “they could get away with it.” At the same time, the department was unable to provide in-city leadership of a major prescription drug abuse investigation (Dr. Agrawal), and as a result the city was not able to financially benefit from the large forfeiture awarded in that case.

In 2008 the SIU was re-opened with two detectives. Since that time, it has been involved in over 100 drug-related cases, and has conducted some 30 search warrants in Galion alone. Recent successes include the investigation and convictions for major drug and child pornography cases.

The presentation then turned to a review of the drug problem in Galion, with the following shared as the primary local drugs of choice:

• Heroin – it was noted that there were five local heroin overdoses last weekend alone, with one fatality. In 2009, a 22 year-old girl overdosed and died in her car in Galion; one recent case involved a 16 year-old Galion High School student.
• Prescription drugs – Vicodin, Percocet, Paxil, Aderol, etc.
• Marijuana
• Crack/cocaine
• Ecstasy
• Over the counter medications

Several slides were shown the to rally audience of drugs obtained in Galion “buys,” as well as the interior of a house at the corner of Sherman and North Market Streets where a search warrant yielded a scene of used needles and a large amount of drug paraphernalia. Another slide showed a Google Map which highlighted locations of recent drug activities and arrests (see right).

Bohach then quoted a Galion City Councilperson in asking “What essential services do the citizens of Galion want?” To answer that question, he then profiled a series of local votes where Galionites supported measures for police and fire protection. Those included the following:

• August 8, 1989 – permanent .39% income tax passed with 996 out of 1732 votes.
• February 7, 2006 – temporary .50% income tax passed with 1507 out of 2366 votes.
• May 5, 2009 – temporary 2006 income tax made permanent with 753 out of 1105 votes.

If the reductions are enacted, he added, the practical impacts would include the loss of the SIU, no drug investigations would be worked locally, and major crime investigations would need to be worked “from the road” – which, he added, is a difficult and less successful process. He suggested that the net result would be the potential for a tremendous increase in what is already a serious local drug problem.

In closing, Bohach shared the fact that the department has been consistently under budget, and, in fact, has returned some $1,001,432.13 to the general fund over the last five years. Some of that, he noted, represented monies which had been transferred from the general fund to supplement operations, but he shared that that represented only 30% at most of that figure.

One Council member has said that the reductions were “a done deal,” he noted, but Bohach noted that not only were revisions made to the recovery plan to lower utility rate hikes, but that the department had not been asked to share possible ways to achieve cost savings and maintain staffing at current levels.

In our next post, we’ll take a look at information provided by the Galion Fire Department, including their look at five frequently-asked questions posed by Galion citizens.

Related posts:

1. Picture Proof
2. Galion’s Number One Health Issue
3. Drug Arrest Made
4. Local Heroin Arrest Made
5. Drugs Confiscated During Arrest