U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Detroit Field Division conducted a multi-jurisdictional sweep in May, June and July that resulted in 619 arrests in eight cities throughout northern Ohio.
Officers cleared 684 warrants for individuals wanted for assault, illegal drugs, firearms, homicide, human trafficking, manslaughter, robbery, and sex offenses. Twenty-nine people are suspected gang members. Approximately 264 of the arrests were from surges into individual cities while 355 were from other areas across the district.
Operation Northern Shield was coordinated among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and task forces as part of an initiative to combat violent crime and had been in the planning stages for months. The goal was to target and apprehend violent fugitives in Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Elyria, Lorain, Mansfield, Toledo and Youngstown…