Scott Wartman

swartman@enquirer.com

Heroin doesn't stop at city lines.

So Newport and Covington police don't want city boundaries to stop investigations, either.

Covington City Commission was expected Tuesday to approve an agreement to allow the two police departments to have jurisdiction in each other's cities. The agreement will now go before Newport for ratification.

"We're not accomplishing anything with heroin," said Newport Chief Tom Collins. "We've made a ton of arrests. We've not made a dent."

Right now police can only cross lines if called by the other agency. That slows down investigations, Collins and other officers said.

Florence, Erlanger and Elsmere approved a similar agreement last year. They, however, waited to implement the program until the Kentucky attorney general signed off. They just received the AG's approval and hope to start being able to cross lines soon, said Erlanger Police Chief Tony Wilson.

This doesn't mean Covington Police will be giving speeding tickets in Newport and vice versa, law enforcement said.

But under the agreement, they can cross city lines to investigate crimes. This could be heroin trafficking. This could be burglary. Police don't know how big an impact it will have. But they hope it will be noticeable, said Covington Assistant Police Chief Brian Steffen.

"This heroin dealer on the other side of the Licking River, he's going to Covington and going back over," Steffen said. "It is not impossible for us to get him, but it takes longer. This allows us to go over and grab him."