Good guys. Bad guys.
When Belmont County Sheriff James Zusack talks about fighting crime, he breaks it down to the basics. Good guys. Bad guys.
And often, the good guys are chasing bad guys across state lines, but that’s OK with Zusack and Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger because they’ve formed a crime fighting partnership.
In fact, Schwertfeger hosted a regional law enforcement meeting at Wheeling Island Casino in mid-September, and the topics included the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), Crisis Intervention Training, Cellebrite, and recent criminal activity on both sides of the Ohio River.
“A group of us from the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office attended a regional networking event at the Wheeling Island Casino that was organized by Chief Schwertfeger, and I thought it was terrific to bring together law enforcement agencies from both sides of the Ohio River,” Zusack said. “Getting everyone together like that is really beneficial and I’m glad Chief Schwertfeger did it.
“When we all get together and share information, we’re able to share what’s taking place over here and we get all of the information on what’s been taking place in the Northern Panhandle,” he said. “It’s only a river that separates us, so it’s always a good thing for us to know what the bad guys are doing on the West Virginia side because it’s real easy to bring that crime over to our side of the river.”
Schwertfeger, a native of Marshall County who has been Wheeling’s chief for 13 years, appreciates data-driven information as one way to fight crime in the city of Wheeling, and Zusack – a member of the Sheriff’s Office since 1991 – has become familiar with all nooks and crannies of his county during his career.
Each utilizes the latest technology and most recent information to chase down drug dealers and the narcotics they traffic in the region.
“No matter what, I always make sure our drug interdiction team attends the regional meetings because the two sides always compare notes about what narcotics the officers are seeing most often,” Zusack said. “Those conversations have been very important because we’ve seen so much change and so many different drugs come into the area over the last decade or so. We’ve seen people go from pills to heroin and then to fentanyl, and now meth is everywhere.
“Plus, we let each other know when cocaine and crack are back in the areas, and who knows what else the dealers will bring into this area,” he said. “We do get surprised sometimes, and if there’s a (bad batch) out there, it’s important for us to share that with everyone so maybe the addicts in the area will avoid it.”
The State Line
It’s a river and a border, but the Ohio River is not a barricade.
Not for consumers looking for the best deals, and not for travelers in search the next best destination, but, unfortunately, criminals are free to cross back and forth, as well, up until the law catches up with them.
“And those criminals don’t care where they’re dealing drugs or stealing what they’re stealing because we all are dealing with the same people most of the time. The bad guys go back and forth without a care in the world,” Zusack said. “It’s always a good thing to share that information with our friends in West Virginia because the bad guys think they can hide from us by just crossing the river.
“With the holidays coming, there will be people who will be shoplifting in both states, and they’ll likely take the goods to the other state,” the sheriff explained. “That’s when comparing our notes really helps during the holidays.”
But sometimes, though, either Zusack or Schwertfeger will notice something new.
“During these meetings, the different agencies get the chance to speak about what crimes they’ve been seeing in their areas and what suspects they’re looking for right now,” Zusack said. “We try to identify as many suspects as possible for each other because if they are committing crimes in Ohio, there’s a good chance they could be doing the same on the other side.
“We also know that when we get information that a suspect we’re looking for has crossed the river that there’s a good chance they could be hiding in the (exempted) homeless camp because that’s where a lot of people have been found in the past,” he explained. “And sometimes the suspects will camp somewhere in Belmont County because it’s a pretty big place. We apprehended a couple people recently that we found camping because someone reported them after we put them on the news.”
Wet & Arrested
The plunge takes place more often than most believe.
Most often, according to Sheriff Zusack, suspects fleeing form law enforcement officers jump into the Ohio River believing the waterway offers them freedom.
Nope.
“Over my career, I have seen a lot of people jump into the river because they think we’re not allowed to go in after them. That’s just how some people think,” Zusack said. “Most of the time, we just wait for them to come back to the shore because they’re not able to swim across to the West Virginia side, and we do let Wheeling (police department) know in case they want to get their guys on a boat.
“The same is true in the situations when someone wants us to chase them and they think once they cross that state line, that we can’t follow them into Wheeling, but that’s not the case either,” he said. “When we see those situations crossing one of the bridges, we let our friends in Wheeling know we’re coming and they’re usually around to help us out.”
Who’s wanted where? The answer to that question determines which agency makes the arrest in over-the-border scenarios.
“I know some people think we compete for arrests and things like that, but there’s no truth to that at all because we’re all working the same job – to protect the people,” Zusack said. “We may be on opposite side of the river, but we’re on both side of the law with the same job – to catch bad guys and put them where they belong.
“Our situation with the Ohio River and the state line is something a lot of agencies in our two states don’t deal with and those officers always ask us how we deal with it. But we just tell them about our relationship with Chief Schwertfeger and they understand immediately,” he said. “We accomplish a lot by working together, that’s for sure.”
