OTFCA: Stark County

Stark County Sheriff’s Office Metro Narcotics Unit

The Stark County Sheriff’s Office Metro Narcotics Unit is one of the oldest existing Drug Units in Ohio, beginning operation in 1969. The mission of the Metro Unit is to identify, investigate and take enforcement action against illegal narcotics trafficking and related criminal activity in conjunction with, but not in place of, local, state and federal enforcement efforts. Metro is a multi-jurisdictional task force that is supplied personnel from numerous police agencies in Stark County. These agencies consist of the Stark County Sheriff’s Office, Canton PD, Jackson Township PD, Lawrence Township PD, Canal Fulton PD, North Canton PD, Brewster PD, Navarre PD, Uniontown PD, and Stark Parks. The Metro Narcotics Unit works with several other state and federal agencies in it’s daily activities as well to include the Adult Parole Authority, FBI Safe Streets Task Force, ATF, DEA, and HSI. The Metro Narcotics Unit is primarily funded through various grants that are acquired on both state and federal levels. The Metro Narcotics Unit not only focuses on the enforcement aspect of narcotics trafficking investigations, but also partners with numerous community agencies to focus on prevention and deterrence of substance abuse and promoting mental health awareness. The Metro Narcotics Unit has a proven history of completing successful investigations and being the hub of creating collaborative relationships between other law enforcement agencies.

The Stark County Sheriff’s Office Metro Narcotics is supervised by the Task Force Commander, Lieutenant Craig Kennedy. Lt. Kennedy has worked for the Sheriff’s Office for 24 years and has held positions in the office as a patrol officer, field training officer, detective, detective sergeant, narcotics sergeant, and currently as a lieutenant in the role of task force commander. Lt. Kennedy has excelled in investigations, to include those violent in nature. He has investigated several high profile cases, some of which have been spotlighted on national television series’.

SSNIT (Summit Stark Narcotic Interdiction Team)

SSNIT is a bulk narcotic, bulk currency interdiction team that is founded through the Ohio Attorney General’s Office by way of the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission. The taskforce began operation in 2020. ONSET is a multi-jurisdictional taskforce which operates in Summit and Medina Counties. The taskforce consists of the following agencies: The Summit County Sheriff’s Office, the Stark County Sheriff’s Office, the Copley Police Department, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and Homeland Security Investigations.