By Spencer Bates

The City of Oswego police department’s new Drug Task Force announced its first arrest since its creation in late February of this year.

According to Captain Damian Waters, the officers assigned to the force are well prepared and trained for the jobs they have. The training and types of people on the force played a pivotal role in the arrests.

“The officers that are assigned there now, we have a sergeant who has some search warrant training, drug enforcement training, drug recognition training … he oversees our investigators who are assigned there and they have that same training as well,” Waters said.

The City of Oswego Drug Task Force worked in conjunction with the county drug task force and the Oswego City Police Special Response Team on the drug bust that resulted in the arrests of Tim J. Tompkins and Stephanie M. Connolly. Each was charged with possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. Both individuals were found with 45 bags of heroin along with crack cocaine with the intent to sell. The duo were originally arrested and released in December 2021 for a similar crime.

The arrest showed the task force’s ability to better target drug users and sellers within the Oswego community. Waters spoke on the importance of having a drug task force specifically focused on the city. 

“We’re still working with the Oswego County Task Force, we’re sharing information, we’re helping each other, that relationship is still solid,” Waters said. “The difference with this assignment is … we’re able to address city concerns throughout the neighborhoods a little bit quicker than we may have been previously. Again that’s all [a] case by case situation, but the number of personnel there definitely has given us more focus to handle a smaller geographical area.”

Waters also mentioned how even though the task force is focussed on the city, this does not necessarily make the job easier. He said there are some areas that the force is paying close attention to but overall it changes.

“Not so much, the city definitely has some spots that, historically, some of the neighborhoods we’ve had more attention to, some of the higher rental areas come to mind,” Waters said. “In terms of city-wide, it’s hit and miss, there’s definitely ‘hot spots’ so to speak … that makes it a little bit more unique because it’s not a concentrated area.”

Having announced the restructuring of the police force to allow for the creation of the Drug Task Force earlier this year, City of Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow celebrated the first arrest in a press release. He thanked those involved for how quick they were to produce results amid the rise in drugs in the city.

“As promised, the City of Oswego Drug Task Force is off to a strong start and already making headway on multiple fronts,” Barlow said. “I commend the men and women of the Oswego Police Department and thank the members of the new Drug Task Force for quickly getting to work and producing results that’ll better protect the Oswego community.”

However, with the publication of the arrest announcement, Waters sees two possible results. One which will help the Drug Task Force as it will deter drug users from coming to Oswego, another in which it will make the force’s job slightly more difficult.

“It could go both ways, the announcement, the formation of it, that may be a deterrent for some people that may want to relocate to our area, or think twice about selling drugs in our community, they may say, ‘Oh we’re not going to go there,’ which is fine by us. So that’s, I guess, a check in the win column. They don’t come, they don’t do it, we don’t have to worry about it so to speak. On the other hand, they may change their methods up more frequently or do something differently, but that’s all part of the game that they play and we’re aware of what they’re doing at times we make adjustments to try to catch up to what they’re doing or let them change it up and we’ll change with them.”

Anyone with information about these in investigations, or any others is encouraged to contact the Oswego Police Department at (315)342-8120. Calls will be kept confidential.

Image via oswegony.com