They heard it when the City of Wheeling announced they were considering awarding Opioid Settlement Funds to the police and fire department before applications were even announced publicly.

“We are not against the police; we support you. But there needs to be an application process, to ensure fairness and merited awards, and protect against even the appearance of favoritism. Because this selective fast-tracking creates unnecessary animosity between our community and the police.”

They heard it when they were literally handed “A Roadmap for Opioid Settlement Funds” at City Council. “Here is a roadmap policy document for opioid-affected communities like ours written by national experts. It says funding should not go towards police and punishment, but towards treatment.”

They heard from countless community members. “Our tax dollars make sure the police department wants for nothing, we just built you a brand new, $6.5 million station. Why do you need this critical opioid money for two ATVs?”

While one ATV was dropped from their first Opioid Settlement request, WPD immediately got funding and their second ATV from another source.

They heard it from Op-Eds, “Opioid Money Must Be Used for Treatment and Prevention.”

They heard it from The Intelligencer’s Editor in Chief directly, “Funding Should Help Treat Drug Problems.”

But the Wheeling Police Department still got their first round of the City of Wheeling’s Opioid Settlement Funds (with the fire department) before the city even made a process for service providers to apply …

And then, before others even had their first serving, the police department came back for seconds.

So they heard it again as local independent media reported as “Wheeling considers second police request for opioid settlement funds.” But the police chief laughed off the litany of human rights abuses committed with this equipment as “silliness.” He asked in-person for the FBI/NSA-level citizen surveillance equipment, and received it from the city.

“But don’t worry,” they assured us, “there will be more money available from the West Virginia First Foundation.”

And now in a stunning move as the West Virginia First Foundation announced its first statewide round of opioid settlement awards, we are learning that the Wheeling Police Department couldn’t help themselves to be first for nearly half a million of that money too!

They are the only Wheeling organization included in the first round of awards, and by far one of the largest awards.

Even some of Wheeling’s most ultra-conservative, “back the blue” residents noted the hypocrisy: “The court awarded settlement was to be used to combat addiction NOT criminalize addicts.”

So when will the Wheeling Police Department get it?

The WV Opioid Settlement money should go toward helping victims of the opioid epidemic, not further victimizing them!

Logan Schmitt is a resident of South Wheeling.