Drug task force disbands – Western Wayne News

For approximately three decades, the Wayne County Drug Task Force investigated drug crimes in Richmond and Wayne County.

Richmond police and the Wayne County Sheriff's Office deployed personnel to investigate drug activity, arrange controlled buys through confidential informants and arrest drug dealers. In the process, officers took drugs off the streets and locked up dozens of dealers.

This formal collaboration has ended and the Wayne County Drug Task Force no longer exists, according to a statement from the RPD posted on social media on September 17.

Both agencies, however, continue to conduct drug investigations. In March, Sheriff Randy Retter announced that his agency was collaborating with the Fayette, Union and Randolph county sheriff's departments and the Indiana State Police on a program to combat violent crime and drugs. In a press release, the RPD also announced its Strategic and Focused Enforcement (SAFE) Crime Suppression Unit.

The SAFE Unit operates under the Policing and Communities Together program, which focuses on building community relationships and evidence-based practices to reduce crime. The program will focus on drug and violent crime. The press release credits the SAFE Unit with the investigations that led to two arrests for drug trafficking that resulted in fatal overdoses.

“Our community deserves a department that puts its safety above all else,” RPD Chief Kyle Weatherly said in the release. “The SAFE Unit isn't just about enforcement – it's about protecting our families, our schools and our future. The Richmond Police Department remains firmly committed to making sure every resident feels safe in their own neighborhood. This is our city and we will continue to fight for it.”

Retter said the cross-county program is simply a collaboration between agencies that share information, equipment and personnel. Each agency investigates in its own area of ​​responsibility, but backup is available when needed. Collaboration means more personnel and more equipment are available at any time and recognizes that criminals are not bound by borders, Retter said. For example, a recent drug investigation in Fayette County resulted in arrests in Milton and in Connersville.

The sheriff's department assigned an officer to the drug task force, but Retter said a detective and a patrol officer are now dedicated exclusively to drug investigations.

“When you're working with appropriate strategies, you need to be able to evaluate those strategies to see if they're currently effective or not. And if they're not effective, you need to make adjustments to make sure you're providing the appropriate services,” Retter said. “And I think by and large that's exactly what it's done: We've simply made an adjustment to meet the needs of our community.”

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