By MARIA KACIK

Staff Writer

MEDINA — The number of alcohol- or drug-related fatal car accidents have been rising in Medina County in recent years, said officer Jerry Klue, director of the Medina County Safe Communities program.

The new OVI Task Force, which brings together officers from 10 law enforcement agencies throughout the county, will attempt to stop the surge in fatalities, Klue said.

In 2006, there were 13 fatal crashes throughout the county and three of them were related to a driver operating a vehicle while impaired (OVI). In 2007, there were 20 fatal accidents and nine of them were OVI-related. Out of the six fatal crashes that have happened so far this year, one has involved an OVI driver.

“There’s a continuous problem out there that we need to target. We need to remove these people from the streets before people get killed,” Klue said.

On Tuesday, more than 30 officers from eight local police departments were sworn in to the OVI Task Force at the Medina County Sheriff’s Office. The swearing-in allows the officers to have jurisdiction over the entire county when working on operations with the task force.

The participating police departments include Brunswick, Medina, Wadsworth, Montville, Medina and Brunswick Hills townships, Spencer and Westfield Center, as well as the sheriff’s department and state highway patrol.

The approximately 20 sheriff’s deputies and patrol troopers who will be participating were not sworn in, since they already have jurisdiction over the entire county.

Klue said the task force will target specific areas throughout the county that have seen a high number of alcohol-related crashes and arrests. He said the group will operate through “saturation patrols,” in which eight to 10 officers from the participating departments will patrol an area of two to three square miles.

He explained the patrols will not be a checkpoint where all vehicles must stop, but rather the patrolling officers will look for signs of impaired driving on the roads.

Kacik may be reached at 330-721-4049 or mkacik@ohio.net.