Sheriff Candy Fothery presents 2024 year-end review to Green City Council

Summit County Sheriff Candy Fothery delivered a year-end presentation to the Green City Council on March 25, outlining the sheriff's office's service levels in 2024 and priorities for the coming year.

Fothery said deputies responded to or initiated 31,156 calls for service in Green last year and conducted 3,654 traffic stops. She reported "a total of 480 individuals" were arrested or issued summonses in the city during 2024 and said crime decreased "in nearly every category" compared with the prior year.

Fothery reviewed specialized resources the office provides to Green at no additional cost to residents: three 24/7 patrol cruisers in Green, additional 8-hour cruisers, float cars countywide, five school resource officers who also patrol parks in summer, a SWAT team, crisis negotiators, a crash-team investigation unit, a regional bomb squad, a mounted unit, dive rescue and recovery, a mobile field force and a newly established drone response team. She added the office maintains registries countywide for certain offenders "over 1,100" entries and a separate registry for arsonists and violent offenders.

The sheriff highlighted multi-jurisdictional task forces: a federal/state/local drug unit, a narcotics interdiction team that targets bulk trafficking at airports and truck stops, a human-trafficking task force that she said rescued 112 victims last year and arrested 50 suspects, and an OVI task force focused on impaired-driving enforcement.

Fothery also announced leadership changes: Chief Larry Brown to command operations (patrol and specialty units), Chief Tim Miller as jail commander, and Chief Bill Holland overseeing administration and operations. She said the office has reduced its deputy shortage by roughly two-thirds and urged residents to consider applying at summitsheriffsjobs.com.

During questions from council members, Fothery said the detective bureau conducted 421 investigations in Green in 2024 and explained some investigations are driven by reports that do not necessarily result in criminal charges, including retail- and gas-station thefts. On fentanyl she called it a national, long-term problem and said she and federal partners are "dialed in" to interdiction efforts; she relayed a federal assessment she said indicated the United States has a large existing supply of fentanyl precursors and that reducing supply will take years of multiagency work.

The presentation closed with council and mayoral thanks and an offer from Fothery to provide follow-up details on specific statistics.

The council did not take formal action on the presentation; it was received for the record.