Wheeling Police Say New UTV Already Has Proven Useful

Purchase Using Opioid Settlement Funds Had Drawn Criticism

Eric Ayres

WHEELING - Police officials in Wheeling have had the department’s new Utility Terrain Vehicle for one month, but it only took a week or two to demonstrate its effectiveness as an extremely useful piece of law enforcement and public service equipment.

The department purchased the UTV and put it into service late last month just before the Upper Ohio Valley Italian Festival took place. Officer Brandon Hoehn submitted the UTV request to the city as part of the police department’s overall application for a portion of Wheeling’s opioid settlement funds from the state of West Virginia.

"Since it hit the streets, we’ve gotten drugs off the street on several occasions with interactions on the trail network down by the encampment in the East Wheeling area," Hoehn said. "We’ve done a 5K with it, and we actually rescued a dog during the 5K. The dog collapsed and had a medical emergency, and we used the UTV to get it out of there."

Initially, the police department requested two UTVs. However, the city was publicly criticized by advocates of those who suffer from drug addictions - including members of the local homeless population - for its distribution of opioid settlement funds.

Some critics asserted that city council had "fast tracked" allocations of this money to the police and fire department for first response and law enforcement efforts. Several advocates maintained that the opioid settlement money should be used to help victims of West Virginia’s opioid crisis by offering treatment and other services aimed at helping them break the cycle of addiction.

The UTV purchases in particular were characterized by some as an unnecessary, almost militant approach to dealing with the city’s drug addicted and homeless citizens.

The city’s initial allocation of opioid settlement money was around $726,000, and Wheeling is expected to receive another distribution in approximately the same amount for a total of about $1.4 million. The police department’s requests total about $152,438 for various purchases, including the UTV purchases.

However, a majority of city council members at that time in May agreed to compromise and approved the police department’s request for funding, but included money for the purchase of only one of the UTVs.

Since then, several local service agencies and care providers have approached city council requesting funds from its pool of opioid settlement money.

Although the Wheeling Police Department did not get its initial request fulfilled, Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeter said they fully intend to purchase a second UTV as they originally planned, especially since the new unit has so quickly proven to be highly useful.

"We’ve used it at some of the events already," Schwertfeger said. "We weren’t able to get it out in time for the Fourth of July, but for the Italian Festival, it was in use. The shifts have been using it. We’ve kind of kept it parked either out at the Armory where the Fire Department is or at the Police Department. They jump on it if we need to get out to the trail. We’ve done some patrols on the trail."

Hoehn noted that the UTVs have been particularly useful for both drug-related and non-drug related responses, particularly for dispatches and patrols on Wheeling Heritage Trail and even along the Maintenance Trail near Wheeling Creek where the temporarily exempted homeless encampment is situated.

"We recovered a stolen side-by-side that was ditched along the trail network, and we were just looking for it. Because of this piece of equipment, we were able to get back to it and find it," Hoehn said. "We’ve responded to a car fire with it, we’ve responded to overdoses with it. It’s proven to be very beneficial. It gets us to places very quickly, and it gets us to places that cars can’t get to, and obviously this is a lot faster than being on foot."

A primary purpose of the UTV was to patrol portions of Wheeling Heritage Trail, which some citizens avoid because of recurring accounts of illegal drug use in certain areas.

"One of the primary purposes is for enforcement on the trail because we get a lot of complaints about drugs and safety issues on the trails," Hoehn said. "With this, we’re out on the trails a lot more often, and we’re trying to curb that thought process about the trails being dangerous or used to trade drugs throughout the city."

The UTV definitely is a tool that is being utilized in response to illegal drug use in the city, Schwertfeger noted.

"We had a lot of complaints, particularly south of Big Wheeling Creek and into South Wheeling," the police chief said. "People are telling us ‘we are hesitant to use the trail in certain areas’ because of the fear, because of the open drug use - people are just laying on the side of the trail, those sorts of things."

Officers have thwarted illegal drug activity while patrolling with walking trails in the UTV, he noted.

"In patrols, we’ve made some drug arrests," Schwertfeger said. "We saved that dog during the race using - we’re just getting started. We’re just scratching the surface. There’s just a litany of uses available. It’s just a really nice piece of equipment, and I’m going to find another funding path to buy the second one that we wanted originally."

Schwertfeger said the UTV the department has now can continue its patrols and general usage in the city, while a second UTV can be kept on a trailer and used for emergency deployment for quick responses anywhere.

"We’re all about being leaders in the region, so if Ohio County or Marshall County had a situation with a missing person or something, or they needed that kind of equipment to traverse some of the ground that they deal with, we’re all about it," the chief said. "Having one in that trailer will increase our response time - we’ll be able to just respond to wherever it was needed."

"We’d do the same thing with this piece of equipment," he said.

Hoehn noted that the UTV has also been quite effective in accessing the Maintenance Trail and the homeless encampment, where the vehicle has been used to patrol the area and to access the remote camp to serve warrants.

"It’s already doing its job when it comes to getting drugs off of the trail - and off the streets," he said.