This story was updated to add new information.
RICHMOND, Ind. — The Wayne County Drug Task Force is no more.
After a nearly 30-year partnership between the Wayne County Sheriff's Department and the Richmond Police Department, RPD last week reported that the sheriff's department has opted to end the task force to divert focus to a multi-county narcotics team covering Wayne, Fayette, Union and Randolph counties.
"Recent decisions by the Wayne County sheriff and his administrative team have led to the dissolution of this long-standing collaboration despite our best intent to maintain this relationship," a Facebook post read.
Officials disagree about the reasoning and the fallout of the decision-making process, however.
Adam Blanton, assistant chief of police at RPD, said he, Assistant Chief Brandon Krofta and Chief Kyle Weatherly were all part of the Wayne County Drug Task Force during their time at the Wayne County Sheriff's Department.
"The past two years, the sheriff's office has not had an individual dedicated to the Wayne County Drug Task Force instead, whether it be manpower issues or whatnot," Blanton said. "Traditionally, the Richmond Police Department will house a supervisor over there and at least one to two patrol officers or detectives.
"In addition to that, state police will have somebody help out. But generally speaking, the sheriff's office provides one officer, dedicates that as a full-time assignment for that officer. All of the funds that are used for the drug task force are used at the sheriff's office."
Finances not a factor in dissolution, RPD says
As part of the partnership, RPD provided two-thirds of the yearly operating budget, while the sheriff's department provided a third.
Blanton said that at the start of the year, the department asked Sheriff Randy Retter to place a full-time member into the task force to take the logistical and manpower strain off RPD's shoulders, but Retter would not make a commitment.
"It may have been February, he made an announcement on Facebook that he was going to be creating a multi-county drug task force with Randolph County, Union County, Fayette County and, obviously, Wayne," Blanton said. "At that point in time, they had made no determination. They did not have a full-time individual, but they still would send an individual from the sheriff's office to help take care of the books and to make sure that the drug task force location's rent was paid, and the lease was taken care of."
In either June or July, Blanton said, one of RPD's captains with the drug task force, along with another officer, met with WCSD's Retter, Chief Deputy Alan Moore and Lt. Jack Martin at a training center, where RPD's captain asked Retter if he would commit an officer to the force.
At the end of the meeting, Blanton said, Retter provided a signed copy of a letter stating that he would be dissolving his partnership with the Wayne County Drug Task Force and would no longer contribute, also asking for a dissolution of the task force assets.
"We advised him that we'd hoped that this was not the outcome or not going to be the case, but we would work through the dissolution of that if that is what he desired," he said. "That money was put into a general account at the Wayne County auditor's office, and that's where they would pay the funds out in there."
About $25,000 and some new equipment were left from RPD's portion, and Blanton said he had thought Retter was "working through this" regarding the sheriff's department's funds.
"The 66% that was ours, Sheriff Retter had told us that he would not be releasing the funds to us, and the county attorney and the city attorney would be the ones that had to go through that after three months of telling us that he was going to separate," he said.
Blanton said financial reasons had nothing to do with the Wayne County Sheriff's Department ending the partnership; instead, he said he believes Retter was determined to create a new multi-county drug task force that he could champion.
Richmond Police Department doubling down to protect Wayne County
In the meantime, the Richmond Police Department has launched a new unit known as S.A.F.E., or the Strategic and Focused Engagement Crime Suppression Team, to specifically target narcotics and violent crime offenses in Richmond and Wayne County.
"Our biggest thing with it is that it takes away from Wayne County," Blanton said. "Union County only has roughly 7,000 citizens, Randolph County has a little over 20,000, maybe 30,000, and Fayette County has about 24,000. ... By volume alone, since Wayne County has the biggest population out of all of those involved, two of those counties, both Fayette and Randolph, already have their own drug task force or at least a semblance of that. There was no benefit of doing that to focus on ancillary counties that already had something going on."
In its Facebook post, RPD said the unit will be "an essential component" of the department's Policing and Communities Together program that focuses on "building strong, community-centered relationships while using evidence-based practices to reduce crime."
"We're pretty excited about that," Blanton said. "In the next coming weeks, we have a major drug bust that we will be putting out on social media that's a direct result of the work of our S.A.F.E. team. In addition, our S.A.F.E. team, since their inception, have now had the first two arrests leading to drug overdose resulting in death (charges) in Wayne County history, so we're pretty proud of that as well."
The post added that RPD will "continue to fight crime where it matters most - here at home," a statement Blanton said he and Weatherly believe that they take care of first.
"We have also doubled down and let the small towns, Cambridge City, Hagerstown, Milton, Centerville and also Fountain City and Greens Fork, know our S.A.F.E. team and our specially trained officers are available to those communities anytime, day or night, 24/7, as part of our commitment to the entire county of Wayne," Blanton said.
'No strain' between departments
Despite the breakup of the partnership, Blanton said that there's no strain between the two departments.
"Our relationship with the men and women who wear brown is as good as it's ever been," he said. "While we would like for Sheriff Retter to commit to the county seat, which is the city of Richmond, I understand that they are two separate entities. At this point, the problem or the tension, I guess, would lie with Wayne County Sheriff Retter and his administrative team."
At the time of publication, the Wayne County Sheriff's Department has not published an official statement related to the task force dissolution, nor has it responded to phone calls requesting comment.
Wayne County sheriff denies RPD's claims of focus away from county
But Wayne County Sheriff Randy Retter said later the discussion to end the Wayne County Drug Task Force began with RPD's previous administration, before having a meeting on July 2 earlier this year.
Retter denied RPD's claim that it chose to divert its focus to a multi-county narcotics team, adding that it's also a violent crime cooperative with neighboring counties.
"It's really more of a collaboration of sharing resources and intelligence, as opposed to what somebody would consider a traditional task force," he said. "We're operating 99% of the time inside Wayne County and Richmond, and if the other agencies or we have information that can help in an investigation, we would be quick to pass along that information."
Retter said that although it's unfortunate that people in law enforcement and private industries "work within their own silos," he said he felt the new cooperative between counties benefits everybody.
"It's not going to take away (from Wayne County)," he said. "In fact, it brings more resources here. By sharing intelligence, information, equipment and even personnel from time to time, it makes us stronger and to be able to investigate not only more efficiently, but safer."
The additional benefits, as stated in a WCSD press release, includes doubling the number of deputies assigned to investigate drugs and violent crimes from one to two, reassigning deputies as needed to aid in investigations and interdiction and the addition of mobile and stationary drug detection devices.
The release also states that the dissolution of the task allows for the Wayne County Sheriff's Department to join the Middle Atlantic-Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network, which provides equipment, intelligence-sharing and access to databases for departments in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Washington D.C., Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware, as well as Canada and England.
Responding to Blanton's claim that there was tension from RPD with him and his administrative team, Retter said he is confused.
"I'm not really sure what he's talking about there," he said. "I know our patrol staff and our detectives all work well with RPD and their patrol staff and detectives, so there's no issues there. I can say that RPD's administration and I don't always agree on everything, but as far as tension, I can't say that I'm necessarily aware."
Retter added that he reached out to RPD, as well as police departments in Hagerstown, Centerville and Cambridge City, inviting them to be a part of the cooperative.
"We'd be crazy to think that all the drugs originate here in Richmond and only start here and end here," he said. "The last statistics that came out, Wayne County ranked 91st among all 92 counties in overdose deaths per capita. We can't continue going down the same road and expect different results. We have to make some adjustments and change with the times and investigative intelligence in order to address the needs of our community the best."
As a part of the cooperative, Retter said that his agency was able to share information with another regarding a drug find at a traffic stop late last week, allowing them to further their investigation.
"I remain firmly committed to Wayne County, including Richmond and all of the communities within Wayne County to provide them with the best law enforcement services that I possibly can. I will continue to work with the other agencies within Wayne County to make sure that we're all doing this in a collaborative effort."
Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email ateweaver@gannett.com.