photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger speaks before members of Wheeling City Council on Tuesday night in support of the purchase of a new cell phone analysis system that will help local law enforcement officials to quickly obtain data in drug investigations, including fatal overdose investigations.

WHEELING — Members of Wheeling City Council approved an ordinance Tuesday to use West Virginia Opioid Settlement Fund money to purchase equipment that will help police quickly extract data from seized cell phones.

Both Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger and Ohio County Prosecutor-elect Shawn Turak appeared before city leaders during Tuesday night’s meeting of Wheeling City Council to speak in support of the measure.

The request for $40,000 will enable the police department to purchase and be trained to use a Cellebrite machine, which would allow officers to extract evidence from cell phones as part of drug-related investigations.

“It’s a phone analysis system,” said Schwertfeger, who noted that the technology is highly recommended by those “in the know” in this field of forensics. “This is the best, top-of-the-line equipment for this purpose. It’s the best system on the market.”

The system can unlock cell phones and pull an array of data from them, including web history, key work searches, photos and videos, cookies, call and text history, and other important information. The police chief said detectives typically use this technology for two types of investigations – those involving child sex crimes and others involving illegal drug use, including investigations involving overdoses, overdose deaths and narcotics trafficking.

“Currently today, when the Wheeling Police Department is faced with an investigation like that, we’ll send the phones that may be seized or recovered in narcotics cases to the West Virginia Fusion Center,” Schwertfeger said. “They will not do analysis on phones for child sex cases. So therefore, we send those phones in those cases to the West Virginia State Police Forensic Laboratory.”

Regardless, both labs use the Cellebrite systems, Schwertfeger said.

“The last time we submitted a phone to the Fusion Center for a narcotics investigation, there were 35 cases in front of us,” the chief noted. “We had to wait for that analysis to be complete. In a nutshell, if this passes and we acquire this equipment, we will have this information the same day, whereas now we’re going to wait weeks before we have that. Weeks are too long. Weeks are simply too long if we’re going to have any success.”

Schwertfeger said agencies from the FBI in Pittsburgh to the state Homeland Security office in West Virginia use this same system.

“I heard about some silliness today about where this is manufactured – I don’t care if it’s manufactured on Neptune,” the police chief said. Cellebrite is an Israel-based company. “If it helps us acquire the information, then I want it. It’s state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line – it’s the best thing going. And we want it timely. We don’t have as many detectives in the city of Wheeling as we’d like to have, as we probably need to have. So the more help we can get through technology – we want that.”

Officials dismissed public murmurings that appeared to be aimed at disseminating misinformation and fear about the technology, including assertions that the system could be used to unlock cell phones and scour through private information of anyone who is arrested by police.

“No phone will ever be searched without consent of an individual that owns the phone standing before us giving consent or a search warrant,” Schwertfeger stressed. “Those overdose death investigations – if my loved one is lying dead there who has an addiction and has been sold narcotics that ultimately have taken their life, I want that information in the law enforcement agency’s hands as quickly as I can get it – if I’m that family member – for the justice that’s deserved.”

Turak echoed the police chief’s sentiments, noting that the quick turnaround time will help put criminals, drug dealers and illegal drug suppliers behind bars.

“Every drug distribution, every felony delivery case that our office handles, the most important piece of data that we are always lacking in the beginning is the result of the cell phone extraction,” Turak said. “We need that. It’s critical.”

Having information from seized cell phones without having to wait for months will help the office more efficiently prosecute cases, Turak noted.

“A cell phone is how a drug dealer does business,” she said. Usually, they have more than one on them. I don’t want a victim’s family waiting two years to begin the process of getting justice. This tool will help.”

Wheeling City Councilman Jerry Sklavounakis, an attorney by trade who recently has been working with the prosecutor’s office, noted that for many years he worked as a criminal defense lawyer. He noted that this technology can also be an important tool in proving someone’s innocence when wrongly accused.

Earlier this year, the city of Wheeling received $726,000 from the state’s initial distribution of opioid settlement money. Sizable distributions from this allocation were made to the city’s fire department and police department, as well as some local service agencies, for various purposes related to battling the opioid crisis in Wheeling. The city was expected to receive an additional allocation from the state of more than $620,000, which is yet to be distributed.

Members of Wheeling City Council voted nearly unanimously to pass the ordinance to purchase the Celebrite equipment. Councilwoman Connie Cain abstained from the vote, noting that she works at the public defender’s office and indicating that she did not want her vote on the matter to be viewed as a conflict of interest.

In other action Tuesday, Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron recommended that the city’s new pedestrian and vehicular safety ordinance – which was passed two weeks ago by city council – have an effective enforcement date of Jan. 1 after discussing it with the city solicitor and police department.

“That will permit education for police officers as well as an extensive public education process,” Herron said. “Not only are people who run into traffic from a pedestrian perspective subject to the ordinance but people who are driving their cars are also subject to the ordinance.”

A public education effort is expected to be launched before the end of the year before enforcement is implemented.

Also Tuesday, officials elected to table a resolution to identify 141 Zane St. as a development or redevelopment site. The property – formerly the WesBanco bank branch on Wheeling Island – is where a proposed development is taking place to convert the building into a Bogey’s Carryout.

Officials and residents have noted the need for a small carryout or grocery store in this area since the Convenient store closed. However, the business plans to have a limited video lottery or a video gaming parlor attached to it to help support revenues and cover overhead costs. Concerned residents and Ward 2 Councilman Ben Seidler have stressed that they want to be reassured that the business is more for Island customers picking up things they need and less for gamblers. There are a number of other existing gaming parlors in the area of Wheeling Island.

Seidler moved to table the resolution to the next meeting, and the majority of council members supported the motion. However, Councilmen Ty Thorngate and Dave Palmer voted against tabling the matter.