OAG and McKeesport PD have seized 46 guns, made 71 arrests since Strategic Response Team launched in July 2021
MCKEESPORT – Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced today with McKeesport Police Department Chief Adam Alfer and Mayor Michael Cherepko the impact from the ongoing partnership of the Office of Attorney General’s Strategic Response Team working with local police departments to combat crime in the Mon Valley. Since the partnership launched in July 2021, agents and officers have seized 46 guns, including three ghost guns, and made 71 arrests.
“We know that by working together, across law enforcement and directly with the community, we can dismantle the gun and drug trafficking organizations that cause crime,” said AG Shapiro. “The arrests we’ve made and progress we’ve seen shows good day-in and day-out police work is essential to public safety in every community.”
These results come after the early impacts made by this partnership with the McKeesport Police Department, detectives from the District Attorney’s Narcotics Enforcement Team (DANET), the Allegheny County Police, and federal partners at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Drug Enforcement Administration.
Just three weeks after the launch, AG Shapiro visited McKeesport where he announced the Strategic Response Team had shut down a drug trafficking enterprise with the arrest of Franklin Gribshaw. Agents and officers also seized three shot guns, two rifles, a handgun, $6,500 in cash, and more than $50,000 in substances including heroin and methamphetamine.
Since the July 2021 launch, the Strategic Response Team has seized large quantities of drugs including, 217 grams of heroin with a street value of $100K, 174 grams of fentanyl with a street value of $86K, 1,249 grams of crack cocaine with a street value of $125K, and 478 grams of crystal methamphetamine with a street value of $47K.
“This is an issue that affects our whole community,” said McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko. “The City of McKeesport and our neighboring communities are better, safer places to live and work because of the support and collaboration between Attorney General Shapiro’s Office, the McKeesport Police Department, and other regional agencies.”
“We have taken a significant amount of narcotics and firearms off the streets of McKeesport and other Mon Valley communities,” said Chief Adam Alfer. “I cannot stress enough the value of partnerships with law enforcement agencies such as the Attorney General’s SRT team. Through these types of collaborative efforts, we strengthen the service we provide to our community.”
The Office of Attorney General Strategic Response Teams are mobile units sent to assist local law enforcement in reducing violence by taking down drug trafficking operations that use firearms in communities across Pennsylvania. These teams operate in areas confronting gun violence related to drug trafficking organizations, and have recently operated and decreased shootings in Philadelphia.
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