A targeted law enforcement crackdown in eight Northeast Ohio cities this summer led to the arrests of more than 600 people and removed 198 weapons from the streets, officials said.
The multi-agency crackdown focused on law enforcement surges in Akron, Cleveland, Lorain, Youngstown, Elyria, Canton, Mansfield and Toledo. “Operation Northern Shield” ran from May through July, specifically timed to the summer months.
“We’ve never targeted multiple cities simultaneously. But we knew that, historically, rising temps in the summer months tend to correlate with rising crime, and we needed to act swiftly across our region, not just in one area,” said U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio in a release…