AUSTINTOWN — Township trustees unanimously approved a motion allowing township police to patrol interstates within its borders — a power police department officials said will allow them to go after drug and human trafficking.

Trustee Robert Santos made a motion to approve the plan at the last meeting, but it was tabled to wait on proper wording. A state law passed last year gives township trustees across Ohio the ability to give this power to their police departments.

House Bill 206 permits townships with at least 5,000 residents to make arrests, enforce laws and issue traffic citations on interstates that have an entrance and exit ramp in their township.

In the Mahoning Valley, this applies to the townships of Austintown, Canfield, Springfield, Boardman, Beaver, Hubbard, Newton, Liberty and Weathersfield.

Santos said at the last meeting that Lt. Mark Skowron has been working on an initiative for township police officers to patrol the interstate with a focus on certain crimes. Skowron said Jason Murzda and Brad McFadden, both K-9 officers, also were instrumental.

“His focus isn’t on writing speeding tickets,” Santos said previously about Skowron. “God knows we can do that on New Road, Turner Road, all that stuff. His focus is the thousands upon thousands of vehicles every hour that travel. With that, the drugs that are going through and the human trafficking that is actually going through our town. He wants to put a stop to that. I completely support that wholeheartedly.”

Police Chief Robert Gavalier previously emphasized that township police officers would not go on an interstate just to enforce speeding. He said the Ohio State Highway Patrol already does that, and noted that the No. 1 complaint he gets from residents is about speeding, so he does not want to take the focus off the township.

The law states that the fines collected by township officers on the interstate would go to the county treasury to be used for highway maintenance and repair, not to the township.

Gavalier said he will not put his officers on the interstate if it takes them out of the township or causes overtime, but only if there are extra officers on the schedule. He also said the township has applied for a grant that would pay for officers’ overtime for this initiative. The grant is specifically for drug and human trafficking.

“We’re between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. We’re between New York City and Chicago. It’s a major interchange down there,” Gavalier said at the last meeting. “There’s a lot of stuff going in and out of there, and sometimes we don’t concentrate down there because we’re busy in other areas in the township.”

Officers now have probable cause to stop people for traffic violations on the interstate, then investigate for instances of drugs or human trafficking, Gavalier said. He also noted that the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office supports the resolution.

AUDIT

Also during Monday’s meeting, the trustees tabled two items that Santos brought forward.

The first was to approve a performance audit by Ohio Auditor Keith Faber’s office for $60,000. It would authorize audits for the parks, road and administration departments.

Santos moved to table the motion because he wanted all departments to be involved and was waiting to hear back from Faber’s office about that. He said it would save the township money to do all the departments at once.

“Inflation is obviously going through the roof. Our pockets are already tight. I know residents’ pockets are already tight,” Santos said.

“I’d hate to go for a levy — and I don’t want to use the word levy until we can find the money internally and see if there’s anything we’re doing wrong,” he continued. “I’m not putting this forward because I assume there’s any type of fraud. That’s the last thing on my mind.”

He said it is important the township see where it can improve internally before asking for money from residents.

Trustee Monica Deavers said she does not think the township needs to spend so much money on an audit.

“As a trustee and as a business woman, I have a problem with the audit. I’m sorry — $60,000 just seems like a lot of money when we have these people sitting right here who probably have 50, 60 years of experience,” Deavers said about the department heads. “That’s what we pay them for — is to make sure (our employees) are doing the job they are supposed to be.”

She said if she were to make a $60,000 investment in the restaurant she owns, she would expect to get a return of at least $120,000 to $150,000. Deavers said if it seems the township would get that kind of return from the audit, she would support it, but otherwise she cannot.

DASHBOARD CAMERAS

Santos also brought forward an item to approve a service order form with Verizon for vehicle tracking, engine connect data and dashcams for 25 road and park department vehicles at $49.90 per vehicle. This would total $14,970 per year.

Deavers immediately made a motion to table it and said if the township is going to do an audit, it should wait to see if the cameras are necessary. She said spending $60,000 on an audit and $15,000 on the camera is “an awful lot.”

Santos said he understands that, but noted that governments, businesses and residents nationwide are installing dashboard cameras on vehicles.

“Regardless if the audit comes back good or not, this is something I think that we should be doing. Everyone in this nation is doing it, and it would be beneficial,” Santos said.

He noted that police body cameras were controversial in the beginning, but said they are accepted as necessary to protect residents and the officers wearing them.

Santos said he is not pushing this because he thinks badly of the road department, but said the trustees get calls from residents about behavior of city workers. With these cameras, he said the township can see what actually happened.

Trustee Steve Kent said some of the big trucks, like the plows and dump trucks, are only used at certain times of the year, so he doesn’t want to put cameras on the vehicles that only get used a handful of months.

Township Administrator Michael Dockry said the township had a GPS system on vehicles, but it became obsolete around 2014. He said he could not recall specifics, but said there were times when the township would have to use it to check what a resident or employee was saying about an incident.

Kent asked Gavalier about his experience with body cameras. Gavalier said parts of Ohio Revised Code govern police body and dashboard cameras, but he would have to check with the prosecutor’s office about use by other departments. Kent then asked to table the item until it could be reviewed by the prosecutor. The item was tabled unanimously.

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