From the AP, 1/4/06:

 

Columbus cops shoot, kill suspect

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

COLUMBUS – A man suspected of trying to rob a drugstore was shot and killed by police early Thursday during a confrontation at an intersection, a police spokesman said.  The suspect was carrying an assault rifle, but it was not immediately clear whether he fired it at any of the four officers at the scene, Sgt. Kevin Corcoran said.

 

The officers were not hurt.  All four shot at the suspect, said Corcoran, who could not provide other details of the confrontation.  The man, who’s name was not released because his family hadn’t been notified, was pronounced dead at 2 a.m., about 30 minutes after police received a call from a CVS pharmacy reporting a robbery attempt.

 

A man handed a note to a CVS employee demanding all the pharmacy’s OxyContin but fled the drugstore without being given any of the prescription painkiller, Corcoran said.  No one at the store was hurt, said Corcoran, who didn’t know how many employees or customers were there.

 

MORE: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/NEWS01/301040008

 

From the 1/5/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Man’s own bullet was lethal, not police officers’

Coroner rules in case of robbery suspect

Friday, January 05, 2007

John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH 

 

A 23-year-old Columbus man wrote his family a suicide note before he took his father’s car and an assault-style rifle early yesterday and tried to rob a Sawmill Road pharmacy, authorities say.  About 20 minutes later, Michael Hevezi killed himself when the car was stopped by Columbus police officers at Lane Avenue and N. High Street.  Four officers fired their weapons during the confrontation, but an autopsy determined that Hevezi died from shooting himself through the roof of his mouth, said Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis.  "He was struck multiple times by police bullets, but those weren’t lethal," Lewis said.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/01/05/20070105-D4-00.html

 

From the 1/14/07 Dispatch:

 

 

PHOTO: Columbus Officer Jim Gilbert, the new president of the local police union, ran for the union position in part because he wants to provide a stronger voice for officers involved in shootings. He was involved in a fatal shooting in this South Side warehouse complex. 

 

PHOTO: Columbus police Officer James Scanlon is outspoken, including in letters to the editor, about his feelings that the Police Division does not provide enough information about the investigations of police shootings. The void leads to misunderstandings about how the shootings happen, he says. 

 

GRAPHIC: Out of bounds

 

GRAPHIC: Out of bounds

 

GRAPHIC: Fatal shootings

 

GRAPHIC: Columbus police shootings

 

‘Shots fired’

Columbus police are stingy with records of police shootings, but reports indicate officers who pull the trigger almost always get it right

Sunday, January 14, 2007

John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH 

 

Columbus police officers who shoot someone are almost always justified in the eyes of their supervisors.  Most 2006 cases, including two in November in which officers killed suspects, are under review.  In 112 shootings from 1996 through 2005, six officers violated division policies, according to records reviewed by The Dispatch.  One was fired.

 

None of the 153 officers was charged with a crime.  The 25 shootings that resulted in deaths were reviewed by Franklin County grand juries; nonfatal shootings are rarely reviewed independently as in some other cities.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/01/14/20070114-A1-00.html

 

From the 1/18/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Killing heightens community’s fear

Police looking for men who robbed, shot business owner

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Hours after shop owner Abdel Shalash was shot and killed during a robbery, the nearby Bon-Aire Restaurant & Bar was open as usual.  The Bon-Aire is in the same East Side strip shopping center as Shalash’s beauty-supply store.  That night, with a handful of customers inside, the bartender locked the front door around midnight.  "For the customers’ safety and mine," said Mary, who didn’t want her last name published, fearing for her safety.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/01/18/20070118-C1-01.html

 

From the 2/1/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Jackson again calls for city to add police

To keep status quo, 555 officers need to be hired in next 4 years, chief says

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Robert Vitale

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Columbus isn’t adding police officers fast enough to meet the city’s needs, according to Chief James G. Jackson.  The city will have to hire 555 new officers in the next four years "just to maintain our current inadequate strength," Jackson said in a memo this week to Mayor Michael B. Coleman and City Council members.  An additional 500 officers would bring the Police Division to a level considered "semi-adequate" for today, said Sgt. Kevin Corcoran, division spokesman.

 

Jackson’s memos complaining of a short-staffed division aren’t new.  But city officials responded quickly to quell any notion that Jackson’s latest contention of inadequate police strength suggests the city is unsafe.  Safety Director Mitchell J. Brown sent Jackson his own memo yesterday detailing increased spending on public safety and bigger yearly police classes.  Columbus has added officers while cities such as Cleveland and Detroit have laid them off, Brown said in his memo.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/01/20070201-B1-03.html

 

From the 2/4/07 Dispatch:

 

 

PHOTO: Police Sgt. Kevin Corcoran fires one of the division’s new handguns, which all officers will be carrying by the end of March.  JAMES D . D  DISPATCH PHOTOS

 

PHOTO: The Smith & Wesson M&P .40-caliber pistol, top, and the old .45-caliber service pistol

 

COLUMBUS POLICE

New pistol increases firepower

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Theodore Decker

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

For the first time in more than 15 years, Columbus police are carrying new handguns and more bullets.  They began switching late last summer.  Each of the 1,876 officers in Columbus should have a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson Military & Police model pistol by the end of March, the division says.  Police began looking for a new gun after Smith & Wesson stopped making the .45-caliber model used by almost all Columbus officers since 1990, said Sgt. Kevin Corcoran, a firearms instructor and division spokesman.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/04/20070204-B1-05.html

 

From the 2/5/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Police involved in two shootings in six hours

Suspect wounded in North Side gunfire

Monday, February 05, 2007

John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A 26-year-old Hilltop man led Columbus police on a foot and traffic chase after exchanging gunfire with officers on the Far East Side yesterday, police said.  It was the second officer involved shooting in six hours.  Josh H. Smith, of 244 N. Oakley Ave., was charged with attempted murder and felonious assault after his arrest off Westbourne Avenue near Taylor Station Road.  Police said Smith fired at two officers who responded to a reported disturbance about 3:30 a.m. at 61 Cotterrew Drive, off Bannockburn Boulevard.  The officers returned fire.  No one was struck.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/05/20070205-C2-03.html

 

From the 2/6/07 Dispatch:

 

Action needed in fight against black-on-black crime, some say

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Sherri Williams

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A city initiative to combat black-on-black crime received a boost yesterday with $150,000 dedicated to the effort, which is the first real action taken in months, some volunteers said.  The African-American Male Empowerment Commission’s effort to reduce crime, strengthen families and empower black men will be contracted out to the Columbus Urban League, where the commission, announced in January 2006, will be housed.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/06/20070206-D3-01.html

 

5 shot at house party on Near East Side

Large crowd mobs medics at scene

Saturday, February 24, 2007

 

Five people were shot, two critically, on the Near East Side late last night, police said.  The shooting happened about 11 p.m. at a house party at 1243 Hildreth Ave., said Sgt. Rich Weiner.  The wounded were found both in the home and scattered outside of it.  The shooting apparently happened inside the home, he said.  Police were looking for two shooters last night but had no descriptions, Sansbury said.  Officers arriving at the scene had to deal with a large crowd, and at one point one of the medics called for backup after being mobbed by people.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/24/20070224-D5-05.html

1 dead after party shooting

Three young men remain hospitalized, all in fair condition, after a Near East Side melee Friday

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Tim Doulin

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

 

Sherman Moorer-Saunders heard the shots before he saw the gunmen that turned a Friday night party on the Near East Side into a tragic scene.  In the end, Eric T. Reeves, 17, died of a gunshot to the head.  Three other victims were in area hospitals.  Moorer-Saunders, who escaped with a cut hand that required stitches, said he was in the basement of 1243 Hildreth Ave. when he heard gunshots that he thought came from upstairs.  A minute later, two gunmen entered the basement.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/25/20070225-C1-02.html

From the 2/24/07 Dispatch:

 

 

2 officers cleared in fatal shooting in Hilltop duplex

Saturday, February 24, 2007

 

COLUMBUS A Franklin County grand jury has cleared two Columbus police officers of criminal wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a man who pointed a gun at them in a Hilltop duplex six months ago.  Officers Brad Hare, 33, and Ronnie Lucas, 35, shot William H. King Jr., 44, about 9:20 p.m. Aug. 4 when he confronted them with a handgun at 280 S. Wheatland Ave., police said.  King died of multiple gunshot wounds.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/02/24/20070224-D3-06.html

 

From the 2/25/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Residents warming up to idea of security cameras

Other cities report that the devices help reduce violent crime

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The phony security cameras have been gone from E. Stewart Avenue in German Village and Merion Village neighborhoods for more than a month.  Columbus crews never got a chance to take down the three cameras from city-owned utility poles on Stewart between Schiller Park and Parsons Avenue.  Whoever put them up, in an effort to dissuade those considering a break-in or worse, removed them after the city said it would because the devices were put up without permission.  But those bogus cameras have caused some to think about real security cameras and whether the city should install them in neighborhoods to prevent crime.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/02/25/20070225-C4-00.html

 

Both from the 3/2/07 Dispatch:

 

 

City holds forum on armed robberies

Some in diverse audience ask police about efforts to protect immigrant neighborhoods

Friday, March 02, 2007

Matthew Marx

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Police stopped Romin Iqbal six times in a year, he said, while he was living on the Northwest Side, near Grandview Heights.  "I didn't mind because I committed no crime," Iqbal told about 50 people last night during a city forum on armed robberies against immigrants.  Iqbal, staff attorney for the Columbus Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, would like to see similar police attention paid to the East Side, where he lives now.

 

Iqbal, 30, notices crimes in those neighborhoods, he said, especially where a lot of immigrants live. "What steps have police taken" to prevent robberies, such as the one that ended in the fatal shooting of an immigrant store owner in January, Iqbal asked.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/03/02/20070302-D1-04.html

 

From the 3/12/07 Dispatch:

 

 

GRAPHIC: Comparing police departments

 

Columbus to hire more police, but how many are enough?

Monday, March 12, 2007

John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

George Hadler has been a business leader in the Northland area for a decade.  He hears more and more from those who live and work in the North Side neighborhoods that they are worried about police protection.  "One of the constant themes is police response time," Hadler said. "It's just slow."  Police officials don't argue the point.  The 18th Precinct, which includes the Northland area but stretches from Morse Road to Polaris, has produced "unmanageable growth and unmanageable workloads" for police, Cmdr. Jeff Blackwell said.

 

Last month, he and Cmdr. David Summerfield proposed splitting the 14th and 18th precincts, two of the biggest and busiest in the city. The resulting four precincts would be more manageable in size but staffed without hiring more officers.  The proposal highlights the Police Division's efforts to do more with less at a time when Police Chief James G. Jackson has renewed his call for more officers.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/03/12/20070312-A1-03.html

 

From the 3/17/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Police officer cleared in 2006 shooting case

Saturday, March 17, 2007

 

A Columbus police officer acted within policy when he shot a robbery suspect on the city's Far West Side last spring, the division announced yesterday.  Officer Scott Siford shot Jeffery Skaggs early on May 24 as Skaggs came out through the back door of a home at 1048 Greeley Dr.  Police said the 28-year-old Skaggs was armed with a handgun and had robbed the home before he confronted the officer at 1:50 a.m.  Siford fired once.  He is 37 and a 10-year veteran of the division.  Skaggs survived and is awaiting trial on charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, robbery and having a gun despite being a felon.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/03/17/20070317-B5-05.html

 

From the 3/27/07 Dispatch:

 

 

2006 nightclub incident

Man shot by officer files $10 million lawsuit

Tuesday,  March 27, 2007 3:28 AM

By Bruce Cadwallader

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A man who said that an officer's bullet put him in a wheelchair filed a $10 million lawsuit against Columbus police yesterday.  Shannon Preston, 24, was shot by Officer Stanford Speaks, who had been working special duty at the Obvious nightclub, 2467 E. Dublin-Granville Rd., on March 24, 2006.  Shots had been fired from inside a car, and police said Preston ran when the car he was in was stopped by officers.  Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said Speaks thought Preston, the driver, was reaching for a gun.  Two others in the car blamed Preston for firing a shot into the air outside the club, O'Brien said.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/03/27/preston.ART_ART_03-27-07_B3_E266SQ6.html

 

From the 4/4/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Police name officer involved in shooting

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

 

Police have released the name of the officer who shot a gun-wielding robbery suspect in the arm on the Near East Side early Monday.  Officer Mark Fester, a 10-year Police Division veteran, was working in plain clothes when he and a uniformed officer were approached by a man at Mount Vernon and Champion avenues about 4:45 a.m.  The man said he had just been robbed and described his attacker, police said. Fester went to the scene of the alleged robbery and found Cortez L. Montgomery, 22, of 1167 Sidney St.  Police said Montgomery threatened Fester with a gun before he was shot in the arm. Other details were not given.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/04/04/20070404-B5-02.html

 

From the 4/10/07 Dispatch:

 

 

COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL

Police units get South Side home

Crime lab, property room to share space after renovation

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Robert Vitale

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The Columbus Division of Police will consolidate its property room and crime lab in a South Side warehouse that the city will buy for nearly $1.6 million.  The City Council voted yesterday to purchase a 168,000 square-foot building on Woodrow Avenue now owned by Our Masonry Co.  City officials said millions more will be needed to customize it for police use.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/04/10/20070410-D6-02.html

 

Link contains a photo.  From the 4/17/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Federal trial starts in police shooting

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The testimony of two Columbus police officers will be contradicted by people who saw parts of a foot chase that ended in the shooting death of Daunte Miller, a federal jury was told yesterday.  Miller's mother, Tosha, is suing Officer Bruce Beard and Sgt. Anthony Luzio, accusing them of using excessive force in the Aug. 6, 2003, shooting in Franklinton.  Beard and Luzio say Miller twice pointed a handgun at Beard as they chased him south on Lucas Street from Town Street.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/04/17/20070417-D2-00.html

 

From the 4/19/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Expert: Gun likely tucked away when police shot man

Thursday, April 19, 2007

John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A badly damaged bullet that fatally wounded Daunte Miller was the focus of testimony yesterday in a federal lawsuit against two Columbus police officers who fired at Miller during a Franklinton foot chase.  The bullet was damaged because it struck Miller's 9 mm handgun after entering his back and passing through his body, a firearms investigator testified in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/04/19/20070419-D8-00.html

 

From the 4/20/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Police say man pulled gun before they fired

Testimony wraps up in federal case over officers' use of force

Friday, April 20, 2007

John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The Columbus police officer who fired a fatal shot into Daunte Miller's back told a federal jury yesterday that he angrily berated the fallen suspect for ignoring orders to drop his weapon.  Officer Bruce Beard recalled cursing at Miller and shouting, "Why did you make me shoot you? "  Beard testified in his defense in U.S. District Court in Columbus, where he and Sgt. Anthony Luzio are being sued by Miller's mother, who said the officers used excessive force.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/04/20/20070420-E3-01.html

 

From the 4/24/07 Dispatch:

 

 

3 COLUMBUS OFFICERS

Policemen cleared in two fatal shootings

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

 

A Franklin County grand jury has cleared a Columbus police officer of criminal wrongdoing in a fatal shooting last year outside a North Side market.  Officer Larry Whitman shot Trae Darson in the parking lot of the Sunshine International Food Mart, 5880 North Meadows Blvd., on the evening of Aug. 30.  The grand jury met Friday to hear evidence in the case and declined to indict the officer, according to the Franklin County prosecutor?s office.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/contentbe/dispatch/2007/04/24/20070424-D3-04.html

 

Link contains a photo.  From the 5/17/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Man whom police shocked with Taser dies 3 days later

Thursday,  May 17, 2007 3:40 AM

By and Patrick Bell

 

A Valleyview man died yesterday, three days after he was shocked with a Taser and hit with pepper spray during an altercation with police.  Patrick D. Hagans, 42, died at Mount Carmel West hospital, said Steve Martin, Franklin County chief deputy sheriff.  Yesterday in Franklin County Municipal Court, Valleyview police had charged Hagans, who owned a local entertainment gift-certificate business, with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/17/VIEWTAZE.ART_ART_05-17-07_B1_FA6O8UT.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 5/22/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Police to get 41 cruisers in fall

Replacement cars don't match department's needs, officials say

Tuesday,  May 22, 2007 4:44 AM

By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Forty-one new police cruisers will be hitting Columbus streets, but not until after the summer season when crime often heats up with the temperatures.  The Columbus City Council agreed yesterday to buy 41 cruisers for more than $1.65 million.  Thirty-six of the cars will patrol city streets, and five will become freeway cruisers.  They'll arrive in September.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/22/Coun22.ART_ART_05-22-07_B1_AD6PNUS.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 5/24/07 Dispatch:

 

 

PHOTO: A Keep Columbus Beautiful camera in an alley east of Champion Avenue and south of Mooberry Street also plays a message reminding anyone that painting graffiti is illegal.  MIKE MUNDEN DISPATCH PHOTOS

 

PHOTO: A motion detector triggers this anti-graffiti camera in an alley east of Champion Avenue.

 

Watching Columbus: Can constant surveillance cut crime?

Mayor considers cameras

Thursday,  May 24, 2007 3:54 AM

By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Soon, you might find the eyes of the city upon you as you walk in your neighborhood, enjoy Red, White & Boom or play in a park.  Look up.  There might be a city surveillance camera watching your every move.  After months of internal discussion among city officials, and after repeated requests for cameras by neighborhood leaders and residents, Columbus will test video surveillance cameras.  Mayor Michael B. Coleman asked his staff yesterday to develop test programs for cameras to observe neighborhoods and Downtown festivals.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/24/CAMERAS.ART_ART_05-24-07_A1_MT6QB8B.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 5/29/07 Dispatch:

 

 

BICYCLE GETAWAY

Columbus Police shoot suspect in robbery of pharmacy

Tuesday,  May 29, 2007 3:35 AM

By Dean Narciso

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A robbery suspect who fled on a bicycle was shot and critically injured last night by Columbus police.  The incident began about 7:15 p.m., when an employee of the CVS pharmacy called 911 to report a robbery in progress at 5445 N. High St. in Clintonville.  A description was given to patrol officers, who quickly spotted a man wearing a navy blue zip sweat shirt, dark glasses and dark baseball cap riding a bicycle from the CVS parking lot.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/29/copshoot.ART_ART_05-29-07_B7_FJ6RP20.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 5/31/07 Dispatch:

 

 

VIDEO SURVEILLANCE

Neighborhoods lining up for city's cameras

Thursday,  May 31, 2007 3:50 AM

By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

If Columbus comes calling on the South Linden neighborhood, surveillance cameras in hand, George Walker Jr. will welcome the city with arms wide open.  "I hope they put them all over the place," said Walker, president of the South Linden Area Commission.  "I want the Linden community to feel safe."  Other neighborhood leaders also say, "Bring 'em on."

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/31/CAMREDUX.ART_ART_05-31-07_A1_BT6SHQK.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

Both from the 6/2/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Fatal convenience-store fight

Officers won't face charges in shooting

Saturday,  June 2, 2007 3:29 AM

 

A Franklin County grand jury cleared three Columbus police officers yesterday in connection with the fatal shooting of a man outside an East Side convenience store last year.  The shooting happened Nov. 7, after Officer Melanie Stevens went to break up a fight at the United Dairy Farmers at the corner of Noe-Bixby and Refugee roads.  One of the men, Larry D. Parks, fought with her and tried to take her gun, police said.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/06/02/PARKS.ART_ART_06-02-07_B2_9K6T9BF.html

 

---

 

MAP

 

String of attacks has Short North, campus on alert

5 robberies reported; 2 included assaults

Saturday,  June 2, 2007 3:30 AM

By Maggie Lillis

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Police are warning residents of the Short North and South Campus areas after a recent string of robberies and sexual assaults against women.  Columbus police issued the alert yesterday in response to five attacks in 11 days.  Several women reported being stopped by a man with a gun who demanded money, Sgt. David Pelphrey said.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/06/02/RAPIST.ART_ART_06-02-07_B3_GI6T80H.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 6/5/07 Dispatch:

 

 

When is homicide not homicide? In crime statistics for Columbus

Tuesday,  June 5, 2007 3:33 AM

By John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Violent crime fell by 4.4 percent in Columbus from 2005 to 2006, the FBI reported yesterday.  Columbus police, however, reported a slight increase in violent crime in the city during the same period.  Three years ago, Columbus police officials began compiling crime statistics through the National Incident-Based Reporting System, which is more complicated but more accurate than the FBI's Uniform Crime Report system, Deputy Chief John Rockwell said.  "There's no perfect system, but this is much more detailed," he said.  "If you're doing research on crime, it gives you a lot more information."

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/06/05/crimrate.ART_ART_06-05-07_A1_TB6U1E6.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 6/10/07 Dispatch:

 

 

City hopes 'john school' will curb prostitution

Saturday classes will give men insight into their crime

Sunday,  June 10, 2007 3:43 AM

By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Men caught trying to pick up a prostitute in Columbus might soon find themselves in class.  Dubbed "john school" in other cities, an eight-hour weekend course, to start next month in the Franklin County Courthouse, is designed to convince them that one conviction is enough.  They'll learn about sexually transmitted diseases.  They'll hear stories of johns who were robbed or killed.  They'll learn how their search for sex fuels other neighborhood crime.  And they'll listen to prostitutes' tales of drug addiction and other horrors.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/06/10/PROST.ART_ART_06-10-07_B1_T36VSCQ.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 6/11/07 Dispatch:

 

 

String of fires has Columbus neighbors on edge

Teens, recent grads suspected in Northwest Side crimes

Monday,  June 11, 2007 3:26 AM

By Suzanne Hoholik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Ed Hackworth woke up early yesterday, glanced into his backyard and noticed something wrong with the trampoline.  The jumping mat was gone.  Someone had set it on fire overnight.  Only the metal frame and some remnants of the blue edge pads remained.  Several patches of grass underneath were black.

 

He and his wife, Ruth, called the Columbus police and fire divisions.  It wasn't until the Hackworths came back from church around noon yesterday that they realized that the fire set behind their Stancrest Road home was part of a larger pattern.  Ten fires had been set in their Northwest Side neighborhood.  Fire Division investigators think high-school students or recent graduates of nearby Worthington Kilbourne are the culprits because this has been a heavy weekend for end-of-the-year parties.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/06/11/fires.ART_ART_06-11-07_B1_OQ6VO3G.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 6/14/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Division clears officers in 2 North Side shootings

Thursday,  June 14, 2007 3:40 AM

 

Two Columbus officers who shot suspects in separate incidents last year acted within division policy, a police board has found.  The findings in the cases of officers Stanford Speaks, 38, and Larry Whitman, 30, came after internal reviews by the Firearms Board of Inquiry.  Whitman, who joined the force in 2004, fatally shot Trae Darson in the parking lot of the Sunshine International Food Mart, 5880 North Meadows Blvd. on the North Side, on the evening of Aug. 30.  Police said Whitman had been investigating a shots-fired report in the area when the officer approached a stopped vehicle.  Darson got out with a gun in his hand, police said.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/06/14/POLICESHOOT.ART_ART_06-14-07_B4_QS7118G.html

 

From the 6/23/07 Dispatch:

 

 

MAP

 

Landlords get hand in staving off crime

Program focuses on enhancing security with police help

Saturday,  June 23, 2007 3:39 AM

By Gavin Off

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

When the Sethi family took over the Pinetree Village Apartments in 1982, the bank representative refused to meet at the East Side property.  Drugs and crimes plagued the 166-unit, 22-building complex.  Now, Columbus Police Lt. Ty Brust, who supervises officers who patrol the area, can not recall any recent calls to the apartment complex.  And today, Pinetree Village will become Columbus' first housing complex to complete something called the Crime Free Multi-housing Program.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/06/23/pinetree.ART_ART_06-23-07_B1_3873GKP.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 7/6/07 Dispatch:

 

 

No explosives found

Bomb squad responds to 6 calls

Checking packages delayed commuters

Friday,  July 6, 2007 3:27 AM

By Encarnacion Pyle

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A sixth suspicious package closed Downtown streets late last night and tested authorities' last nerves after hours of chasing one report after another.  Columbus police said video captured two men leaving a gift-wrapped package at the Ohio Department of Education headquarters, on Front Street near Broad Street.  A Fire Division bomb squad cut the red-and-white package open after a robot scanned it and determined it did not contain a bomb. 

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/07/06/bscare.ART_ART_07-06-07_B1_UF77COU.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 7/10/07 Dispatch:

 

 

2 police officers accused of coercion

Incident involves woman baring her breasts

Tuesday,  July 10, 2007 3:26 AM

By Theodore Decker

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Columbus Police Officer Scott Shepard told internal-affairs investigators that it was a "silly, slap-happy conversation" and "extremely stupid" in hindsight.  The 22-year-old Ohio State University student saw it differently.  She told investigators that her chance meeting with Shepard and Officer Donny Smith in March amounted to coercion, ending when she exposed her breasts out of fear that she and her boyfriend would be arrested if she didn't.  Now, Shepard, 27, and Smith, 26, are in the process of being charged departmentally. They are accused of violating police rules of conduct in their contact with the woman and of failing to arrest her boyfriend on a valid traffic warrant.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/07/10/TWOCOPS.ART_ART_07-10-07_B1_LD78BHI.html?type=rss&cat=21

 

From the 7/11/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Police study fuels debate on force size

Wednesday,  July 11, 2007 3:39 AM

By Robert Vitale

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Mayor Michael B. Coleman has new ammunition in an election-year debate over whether Columbus has enough police: a federal study showing that the city has added officers at a far quicker rate than others.  But hiring hasn't quite kept up with population growth, according to the U.S. Department of Justice report, and union officials say statistics don't reflect reality in the Columbus Division of Police.  The study from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, a quadrennial census of police agencies nationwide, shows that Columbus expanded its force by 1.9 percent from 2000 to 2004.  That's nearly twice the national average for all police forces, and much better than big-city forces, which shrank overall by 1.7 percent.

 

Among the nation's 50 biggest departments, Columbus ranked 23rd with 1,777 officers in 2004, the Department of Justice said.  Since 2004, Columbus has continued to add police.  The city budget calls for 1,909 officers to be on the rolls by the end of 2007.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/07/11/morecops.ART_ART_07-11-07_A1_HL78JLH.html

 

From the 7/12/07 Dispatch:

 

 

GRAPHIC: Three shootings

 

One street, three deadly ends

Man, 75, latest to have his life taken on E. Morrill

Thursday,  July 12, 2007 3:33 AM

By Mark Ferenchik and Theodore Decker

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Last July, Jeff Massie was painting the porch of the E. Morrill Avenue house he shared with his ailing father, Garland.  The color, a bright green, was a sign of rebirth.  He had thought about moving his dad, his brother and himself from their South Side home of more than four decades because of the crime and violence on the street.  But he decided to stay after the city swept through last year to rid the area of troublemakers.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/07/12/MORRILL.ART_ART_07-12-07_A1_0678TE9.html

 

Link contains a photo.  From the 7/15/07 Dispatch:

 

 

COLUMBUS POLICE

Ratio of black officers declining

Force has trouble recruiting from minority groups

Sunday,  July 15, 2007 3:44 AM

By John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The percentage of black officers in the Columbus Police Division is at its lowest since the mid-1980s, when the city was under a court order to improve its minority hiring.  The numbers are not likely to improve soon.  Many black officers are becoming eligible for retirement and few black recruits are entering the police academy.  "If we do have an onslaught of black officers retiring, I think it will be difficult to recover," said Sgt. Tony Wilson of the minority-recruiting unit.  Of the division's 1,842 sworn officers, 12.6 percent are black.  That percentage has held steady for the past three years.  In 1988, black officers represented 15 percent of the division.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/07/15/blackcops.ART_ART_07-15-07_A1_1V798VG.html

 

From the 7/17/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Columbus City Council

Civilian patrols get more money

Tuesday,  July 17, 2007 3:34 AM

By Robert Vitale

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Columbus will spend an extra $283,000 this year to expand a civilian crime-fighting force that has helped police nab wanted felons, drunken drivers and violators of city codes.  But an 80 percent funding increase won't send the Community Crime Patrol into more city neighborhoods.  It will add patrols only in the six where they already exist.  As City Council members approved the additional money last night, one of them said a program that everyone in Columbus pays for should be available to more city residents.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/07/17/coun17.ART_ART_07-17-07_B2_UG7A6ES.html

 

City unveils plans for $8 million police heliport

New land database helped Columbus buy site from state

BY MAGGIE LILLIS | COLUMBUS DISPATCH

July 26, 2007

 

COLUMBUS - A new $8 million heliport for Columbus police will land in the Hilltop area by 2009, state and city officials announced yesterday.  Construction of offices and two hangars is slated to begin next year on a now-vacant 12.9-acre parcel west of I-70.  The parcel was identified through a new inventory of state-owned property catalogued by the state treasurer.  It was purchased by the city for $194,955.

 

Ravine's 'graffiti cams' may catch spray-paint vandals

Thursday,  September 20, 2007 3:42 AM

By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Glen Echo Ravine in the heart of Columbus is a tranquil place for a Sunday stroll, for walking a dog -- and for spray-painting graffiti.  Now city leaders hope that cameras will capture "taggers" perfecting their artistic skills after dark in the ravine underneath the Indianola Avenue bridge.  Two cameras mounted on trees point into the underpass from either side of the bridge.  Movement triggers them to start taking pictures.

 

Full story at http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/09/20/GRAFCAM.ART_ART_09-20-07_B5_9D7V5A5.html?sid=101

A community that currently allows barbarism and promotes ignorance combined with insane drug laws guaranteeing events such as these will continue while the perpetrators keep making plenty of money, South Linden sure won't see gentrification any time soon. On another tangent, this looks like an interesting traffic calming plan for the neighborhood.

 

Gang Rage

Rash of shootings, 4 recent deaths - police say it's getting out of control

Sunday,  May 25, 2008 3:39 AM

By Theodore Decker and John Futty

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Panicked South Linden residents flooded 911 with phone calls when the bullets started flying on May 18 near E. 18th and Cleveland avenues. "There was multiple people with guns," one man told an operator as a woman screamed in the background. "They were running while they were shooting at each other." Police swarmed to the neighborhood and took stock of the damage. Several houses had been hit by gunfire. Residents said that as many as two dozen shots had been fired, and detectives collected spent rounds from several guns. They found an AK-47 rifle behind a tree.

 

And they found Devon Rheubottom, 18, dead in an alley.

Stimulus saves jobs of 26 police recruits

Thursday, February 26, 2009 

By John Futty, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The Columbus Police Training Academy will welcome 26 recruits to a refresher course today after their jobs were saved by a grant from the federal economic-stimulus package.  Mayor Michael B. Coleman delivered the news yesterday morning to the recruits, who were told Jan. 27 that they would not be sworn in as officers and would be laid off at the end of February because of the city budget crunch. 

 

"The stimulus package is already working," the mayor said at a news conference with most of the recruits standing behind him. "It will save this police class." The city learned Sunday that it will receive $1.25 million to pay the officers' salaries from March 2 to Dec. 31, but it didn't get the confirmation in writing from the Justice Department until Tuesday.

 

Full story: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/02/26/copy/recruits.ART_ART_02-26-09_A1_NVD1QHC.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Local heroin trade has Columbus ties

 

By MARK CAUDILL • News Journal • April 5, 2009

 

MANSFIELD -- A heroin pipeline runs from Columbus to Richland County.

 

[email protected] 419-521-7219

 

The East Main Street Camera Program (EMSCP). From the website

 

The East Main Street Camera Program, located on the Near East Side of Columbus, Ohio, now consists of six high-resolution, Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras, connected by a Firetide wireless network. Video images are beamed real-time to a Digital Video Recorder, and simultaneously uploaded to the Internet.

 

When the Main Street Camera Program officially launches later this summer, any computer user in the world will be able to gain view-only access to real-time, streaming video images of Main Street through our website.

 

The primary goal of the Main Street Security Camera Program is to deter nuisance and criminal activity. Secondary goals are identification of suspects and prosecution.

 

Here's one of the videos:

 

Real-time cameras expose crime on E. Main

Video operators aim deterrent of shame

Monday,  August 10, 2009 - 3:01 AM

By Tom Knox, The Columbus Dispatch

 

Every day, Mike Moore spends up to four hours at his computer, watching, waiting for someone to mess up.  It could be an assault, prostitution, public drinking; if you're making E. Main Street look bad, he wants to know.  And then he wants to tell the world.  Moore is a volunteer camera operator with the Main Street Camera Program.  The program, operated by a nonprofit group that coordinates urban grants in poor neighborhoods, uses six cameras in hopes of deterring criminals through public shame.  It soon will add a seventh.  Volunteers can turn the cameras atop buildings along E. Main between S. 18th Street and Wilson Avenue and zoom in if they see something interesting.  Memorable videos end up on YouTube.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/08/10/youtubecrimetool.ART_ART_08-10-09_B1_L4ENOL5.html?sid=101

 

As reported by the awesome Columbus Underground website "Old Oaks Twitter Block Watch Featured Nationally".  Old Oaks is a neighborhood located directly east of Childrens Hospital.

 

Neighbors Twitter, blog to keep criminals at bay

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Cruise down the tree-lined streets of the Old Oaks neighborhood on a summer evening and know this: Someone is watching you.  It might be Richard Vickers, who records your license plate number in a notebook as he retrieves gun shell casings from the sidewalk while out on his nightly walk.  Or it might be Doug Motz, who alerts via text message: "Watch out for the green van lurking in the alley."

 

Like the members of this well-oiled block watch group in central Ohio, neighbors across the country are using Twitter, blogs, e-mail and street patrols to help thwart crime.  While some groups form after break-ins or muggings, there are signs of increased interest as law enforcement agencies are strained by layoffs and furloughs amid ballooning budget deficits.

 

Read more at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iMUAmNSqz9SnDVbQ_Bv1ocmw6TywD9A0K8F80

Investigators say morning blaze at Somali-owned businesses was arson

 

Monday, October 19, 2009 1:42 PM

 

Fire investigators say arson is the cause of an early-morning blaze that destroyed several businesses in a building on Westerville Road. "We found accelerant around the building," Columbus Battalion Chief David Whiting said.

The building at 3296 Westerville Rd., south of Innis Road in Mifflin Township, contained the Capital Cafe, Islamic Bookstore and Imani Tax Service, all Somali-owned, and a vacant banquet hall. The businesses were gutted.

Masjid Salama, a mosque located next door on the same property, was not damaged.

At a morning news conference, Whiting said it was too early in the investigation to know whether the fire could be considered a hate crime.

http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/10/19/fire.html?sid=101

Also from the previous article: "At a morning news conference, Whiting said it was too early in the investigation to know whether the fire could be considered a hate crime.  Mohamed Maalim, the owner of the bookstore and tax service, said the lack of damage to the mosque makes him think there was some other motive for the blaze."  

 

The other motive from the Tuesday article "Arson cause of fire at Mifflin stores: Mosque next door in dispute with landlord of buildings ": "The leaders of the mosque are embroiled in a legal dispute with the property manager, who also manages the building that burned.  Mohamed Hassan Adam, who holds the lease for both buildings, filed a civil lawsuit against the mosque's leaders last Tuesday in Franklin County Municipal Court, saying they have occupied the building since August without a valid sublease and haven't paid rent.  Ahmed Mursal and Ali Fiqi were served with an eviction notice Oct. 1, but they refused to vacate the building, according to the lawsuit.  A court bailiff notified them Thursday that an eviction hearing is scheduled for Nov. 3, court records show."

 

Police suggest they move from crime-ridden neighborhood, residents say

Thursday,  October 29, 2009

By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch

 

Allen Carrel recently called police to tell them about the latest drug deal he watched go down in his South Side neighborhood.  "Police say, 'Well, why did you move here? Why don't you move out if you don't like it?'  " said Carrel, who said he calls police at least once a week.  Others complain that they have heard the same.  James Ragland, aide to Columbus City Council member Charleta Tavares, said he has received more than 20 similar calls from residents from areas including the South Side, Linden and the King-Lincoln District.

 

It's a big enough issue that city lawyers discussed it with Police Chief Walter Distelzweig this week as they talked about what they were hearing about police, good and bad, in the community.  "If we find out something like that happens, we'll look into it if we have the name of an officer," said Sgt. Rich Weiner, a police spokesman who attended the meeting.  "Our mission is to serve the communities of Columbus and the citizens who live within. The solution is not for an officer to tell them to move out."  City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. said even one officer suggesting someone move is one too many.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/10/29/MOVEOUT.ART_ART_10-29-09_A1_FNFGPM5.html?sid=101