Speaking from behind a table full of guns seized in Greater Akron over the last two months, federal and local officials announced the early Thursday morning arrests of nearly three dozen people in the area.
The arrests on gun and drug charges of the 35 mostly unconnected suspects by an estimated 250 law enforcement agents coincided with a press conference scheduled for hours later. It announced the creation of a collaborative gun violence intelligence center in Akron.
It is unclear how many suspects — labeled violent and dangerous by authorities — were allowed to remain on the streets after probable cause was established so that law enforcement could arrest them on the same morning the gun violence collaboration was announced.
“It’s a wonderful day to be in Akron,” said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent John Smerglia from the podium inside the Oliver Ocasek Government Office Building downtown. He was flanked by U.S. Attorney David Toepfer on one side and Akron Police Chief Brian Harding on the other. They were joined on stage by Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski, Barberton Police Chief Vincent Morber and others apparently involved in a “60-day covert operation” in the area.
More than 30 of the people arrested today were indicted on federal charges, while seven were indicted on state charges in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas. The investigation focused on five regions in the Akron area that were unidentified — “hot spots of violence” according to the ATF. Spokespeople for the U.S. Attorney and the city did not answer questions about where those locations were.
“These are not low-level arrests. These are significant cases that removed dangerous people from our neighborhoods,” Harding said. He joined Malik in extolling the collaboration between the local and federal agencies in an effort to curb gun violence in the city.
Malik said arrests were a “culmination of a lot of work that has been done” in recent years and also “the first step in a new day” with the creation of what is known as a Crime Gun Intelligence Center.
Akron’s new Crime Gun Intelligence Center
Authorities on Thursday announced that Akron will join Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati as the Ohio cities with an ATF-led CGIC. Harding wouldn’t say where the center will be located, other than that it will be on City of Akron property.
The CGIC “houses advanced forensic technology to analyze guns used in crimes like the ones we mentioned earlier today,” said Toepfer, the Cleveland-based federal prosecutor. “It helps investigators connect the dots between crimes and links offenders to crime scenes.”
The centers are “intelligence hubs” that use “cutting-edge forensic science.” They coordinate with local, state and federal law enforcement to investigate and prosecute gun violence.
Smeglia, who leads the Columbus office of ATF, said the model has worked in the other Ohio cities to reduce violent crime. While Smeglia said he didn’t have specific statistics about violence reduction in the other cities, Malik said it’s not the sole reason crime declines but it’s “incontrovertibly true that when you focus resources in one place you get better at addressing issues.”
The center is tasked with taking different “pieces of the puzzle” in solving gun violence — an analysis of bullet fragments, gun tracing, and more — so investigators can build cases faster, Smeglia said.
