Ohio State Highway Patrol Portsmouth Post Commander Lt. Mike Crispen credits the diligence of officers along the U.S. 23 corridor with the large number of illegal weapon arrests made over the last 20 months.

Scioto County had the second highest number of Ohio State Highway Patrol illegal weapon arrests over that period of time, just behind Ross and Richland counties.

“Once you get officers a lot more focused on that kind of trafficking, they become more aware of the types of weapons people may have.,” Crispen said. “And they are seeing things that, in some cases, other officers might be missing.”

Richland and Ross counties each registered 24 illegal weapon arrests, while Scioto County made 18 arrests during the same period.

“I think it’s a combination of a couple of things,” Crispen said. “There is no way of really knowing if we just have more weapons in our area, or whether you just look at the nexus between those counties, Ross and us especially. If you do you will notice there is also a tie into drug-related arrests. In our area, in Ross County especially, they are really a lot more active in drug enforcement than maybe some other areas. So there’s even case law that there is an especially strong connection between illegal weapons and drugs.”

Crispen credits troopers who work with drug arrests on a regular basis as being the most aware of the possibility of weapons being on board vehicles stopped for drug searches.

“I don’t know that I would tie the nexus to say that there are more weapons being carried through Scioto County,” Crispen said. “I would just say that our officers are a lot more diligent because of their strong attention to the drug problem on the (U.S.) 23 corridor.”

Rounding out the top five counties, behind Richland, Ross and Scioto, were Mahoning and Stark counties.

Counties in the Patrol’s Jackson District (southeast Ohio), which includes the Portsmouth Post, accounted for 85 arrests, followed by the Patrol’s Massillon District (northeast Ohio) with 59 of the illegal weapon arrests.

Of the total 447 illegal weapon arrests throughout the state of Ohio, more than half (233) of all the arrests involved felonies. Impaired drivers accounted for 173, and 120 involved drug arrests.

The top two award winners in the OSHP in 2009 were out of the Portsmouth Post. Nicholas L. Lewis was State Trooper of the Year, while Sonia M. Banks, was Dispatcher of the Year.

FRANK LEWIS may be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 232.