Yeah, I was deeply moved by it. It's easy for me to distance myself from cops and see them as almost these characters in this movie of life. I thought her article brought a very, very human aspect to the police force, and it made me deeply grateful for these guys who literally put their lives on the line every single day. It blows my mind.

 

I just really, really, really hope people on cleveland.com won't twist things into some negative portrayal of the city .. as in, "See? Cleveland is the only dangerous place around. I'm leaving as fast as I can!!"

 

I just really, really, really hope people on cleveland.com won't twist things into some negative portrayal of the city .. as in, "See? Cleveland is the only dangerous place around. I'm leaving as fast as I can!!"

 

I never got that from reading the article the first time, but you make a good point by bringning it up, im outta here!!!  :laugh:

I've disagreed with a few things that Regina Brett has written, but that was one of the best pieces I've read about a cop who, despite his fame or infamy, isn't well understood. Thanks for helping me to understand him a little bit.

 

Completely agree. Great article with an honest and unbiased view.

 

I just really, really, really hope people on cleveland.com won't twist things into some negative portrayal of the city .. as in, "See? Cleveland is the only dangerous place around. I'm leaving as fast as I can!!"

 

I never got that from reading the article the first time, but you make a good point by bringning it up, im outta here!!!   :laugh:

 

That's what I meant when I said, "Positive or negative?"  I live in the Second District and am glad to have someone like Jim working and living in my neighborhood.

 

Gladly, the author didn't turn the article into a piece about how this is some kind of typical night in Cleveland.

By the way, here is her part 1 of the article.

---

 

Following up on the invitation to ride with Cleveland police officer Jim Simone - Regina Brett

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Regina Brett

Plain Dealer Columnist

I did like the artcle and its portrayal of a guy who has been deserving some better PR.  I have friends on the CPD and I know there are many fine individuals on the force... but... many Clevelanders either distrust the CPD or consider it a joke.  Crime is a problem here and it's not just a perception.  The good guys are not winning to the extent we need them to, and I think its a issue of strategy.

 

"Jim runs plates all night."  Wow.

 

That's a whole lotta focus on traffic violations.  How dare these people scoff at the BMV, not having their papers in order.  We'll get our top man on it!  It comes off like the actual crimes are interrupting CPD's top priority of scanning everyone's license plates and reading their files.  Nothing builds community relations quite like that does...

 

We need more officers on the streets but they should be spending their time:

 

1)  Guarding neighborhoods and commercial areas-- on foot, focused less on cars and more on people.  Nobody robs anyone or anything from a car.  Most importantly, nobody says I'm afraid to go downtown because of all those people driving on a suspended license.  Absurdly, disgustingly misplaced priorities.  Too much actual crime going on here for CPD to ever be idly running license plates.

 

2)  Investigating and following up-- a coworker's car was stolen less than a block from CPD HQ.  It eventually turned up at an Aldi.  There was an Aldi receipt in the car, time stamped with excactly what moment the theives were standing in front of Aldi's security cameras.  CPD had no interest in pursuing this.  When I lived in midtown last year, the 3rd dist was flippant about ignoring several neighbors' complaints.  Even after one had a Friday the 13th style encounter out front.  No manpower, no manpower.  They even asked another neighbor why she was living there, if she was so concerned about crime. 

 

We never ever saw an officer patrolling our area.  We saw the occasional cruiser gratuitously blowing through red lights and that was about it.  If they have the manpower to drive around breaking traffic laws and exercising their authori-tah on other people for breaking traffic laws... then they have the manpower to walk the beat and respond to citizens.  I don't want to hear another word about Jane Campbell.  Get out of the cruisers, fight crime, and show some respect toward citizens when they call on you for help.       

 

 

 

 

 

 

^ Is this deliberate troll bait? Not that you aren't entitled to your opinion but... I think it's pretty clear from the article that traffic enforcement is just one dimension of the CPD's strategy. Not to mention the dude is 60 and he's still doing a LOT more than just writing traffic tickets.

 

Of course there are areas CPD is lacking and could be improved, I'm just not getting why you think such vitriol is needed in response to this article.

Plate tracking: 

 

1. is the car stolen?

2. is the car owned by someone with an outstanding warrant?

3. is the registration current?

 

Plate tracking gives you a lot of information.

^ Is this deliberate troll bait? Not that you aren't entitled to your opinion but... I think it's pretty clear from the article that traffic enforcement is just one dimension of the CPD's strategy. Not to mention the dude is 60 and he's still doing a LOT more than just writing traffic tickets.

 

Of course there are areas CPD is lacking and could be improved, I'm just not getting why you think such vitriol is needed in response to this article.

 

I agree.  Many times citizens, regardless of city, are not very concerned with the cops, fire department, EMS or community board until it affects them. and by that time, it's too late.

Plate tracking:

 

1. is the car stolen?

2. is the car owned by someone with an outstanding warrant?

3. is the registration current?

 

Plate tracking gives you a lot of information.

 

4.  Is the driver drunk or high?

5.  Have you ever heard of a drive-by shooting?  Or a kidnapping at gunpoint from a car?  Yes, crimes do happen from a car.

Vitriol not entirely in response to the article.  I did edit it to note overall approval of the portrayal and of Simone. 

 

Did not think the article painted a good picture of department strategy with the scanning of plates all night.  It's not utterly useless but it's a misallocation of resources.  Waiting for wanted people or stolen cars to randomly drive by does not seem like a sound approach to the level of crime we face.  It's passive at best, and there are 4th amendment implications. 

 

My neighbors and I had nothing but bad experiences dealing with CPD.  Coworkers as well.  Endemic proportions.  It's not just their (in)actions, it's the "why did you move here, why are you bothering me" attitude.  Nobody wants to fight the cops and the criminals.

 

It is a serious problem, perhaps the most serious one we have as far as turning things around residentially.  Crime is a huge barrier to redevelopment and what we've been doing to stop it has not been working.  Something must change if we want these windows unbricked, if we want the Lorax to come back.  We do not have the manpower for traffic enforcement if we're telling citizens we don't have the manpower to deal with higher priority crimes when they call.

 

It's not just cleveland.com people in far flung exurbs who think Cleveland has public safety problems.  A lot of people with that opinion are huge boosters of the core city.  They need the support of CPD and instead they too often get disaffection and derision.  Not all of the city's problems are perceptual.  Some of them need to be solved, forthwith, using new strategies-- and crime is #1.   

Vitriol not entirely in response to the article.  I did edit it to note overall approval of the portrayal and of Simone. 

 

Did not think the article painted a good picture of department strategy with the scanning of plates all night.  It's not utterly useless but it's a misallocation of resources.  Waiting for wanted people or stolen cars to randomly drive by does not seem like a sound approach to the level of crime we face.  It's passive at best, and there are 4th amendment implications. 

 

My neighbors and I had nothing but bad experiences dealing with CPD.  Coworkers as well.  Endemic proportions.  It's not just their (in)actions, it's the "why did you move here, why are you bothering me" attitude.  Nobody wants to fight the cops and the criminals.

 

It is a serious problem, perhaps the most serious one we have as far as turning things around residentially.  Crime is a huge barrier to redevelopment and what we've been doing to stop it has not been working.  Something must change if we want these windows unbricked, if we want the Lorax to come back.  We do not have the manpower for traffic enforcement if we're telling citizens we don't have the manpower to deal with higher priority crimes when they call.

 

It's not just cleveland.com people in far flung exurbs who think Cleveland has public safety problems.  A lot of people with that opinion are huge boosters of the core city.  They need the support of CPD and instead they too often get disaffection and derision.  Not all of the city's problems are perceptual.  Some of them need to be solved, forthwith, using new strategies-- and crime is #1.   

 

Then if you have problems with the CPD, then you, you're neighbors and the business there ALONG with the area council person and community board, could have inquired about change.

 

But non the less, its easier to complain, than to take the bull by the horns.

 

Granted, I'm only hearing your side of the story, so there are lots of things that could have possibly been done differently so that all parties were satisfied.

The Aldi incident you mentioned could have happened anywhere.  An extremely similar situation happened to me when I lived in Lakewood and the lakewood PD couldn't have cared less about doing anything to catch the perpetrator of the crime.

 

As to running plates, it doesn't say whether or not the officer was sitting and watching for erratic driving/speeders, which is a perfectly legit use of their time and resources, especially late-night, or whether they were crusing around looking for same, which is equally useful.  Your argument that this doesn't benefit anyone is just wrong.

Plate tracking:

 

1. is the car stolen?

2. is the car owned by someone with an outstanding warrant?

3. is the registration current?

 

Plate tracking gives you a lot of information.

 

I've been writing police blotters for newspapers for 12 years and I can't tell you how many wanted felons (assailants, rapists, burglars, robbers and yes, murderers) were picked up by cops running license plates. But it's been many hundreds. It's a little effort that can net huge gains in police work.

^Come on folks, someone's personal anecdotes obviously outweigh any facts you can bring up.

try going to cpd to file a police report for a minor traffic accident

 

your presence won't be acknowledged for hours!

 

it happened to me

Try calling the CPD for a group of people fighting in the middle of the street.

 

Three black-and-whites arrived in three minutes, put the two main perps in one of the cars and drove off and dispersed the rest.

 

It happened to me.

Try calling the CPD for a group of people fighting in the middle of the street.

 

Three black-and-whites arrived in three minutes, put the two main perps in one of the cars and drove off and dispersed the rest.

 

It happened to me.

The HBIC was arrested?  :wink:

Uh, no. Just sharing my experiences - the difference is that I know that my experience may or may not be similar to others, and my personal experiences may or may not be indicative of the CPD in general.

 

Honestly the worst problem I've had (knock on wood) was a dispatcher who gave me a little attitude once. Even so, the cops showed up quickly and took care of business.

Uh, no. Just sharing my experiences - the difference is that I know that my experience may or may not be similar to others, and my personal experiences may or may not be indicative of the CPD in general.

 

Honestly the worst problem I've had (knock on wood) was a dispatcher who gave me a little attitude once. Even so, the cops showed up quickly and took care of business.

 

I had to call about someone "laying" on the train track.  The operator asked me if they were dead or alive.  I was like, "that's why I'm calling YOU, I'm not going down there to check". 

 

Come to find out it was some drunk Case or JC.  I still can't figure out why RTA polie didn't know or come.  I know a train driver had to see that person, if I could see them.

My position is not that traffic enforcement and plate scanning don't do any good at all.  I'm saying that the need for feet on the streets is so overwhelming that we may lack the manpower.  If we don't lack the manpower for traffic sweeps, then do we have enough patrolmen to guard all of our neighborhood commercial areas so the city can function at night.  We don't have enough for that?  Then we absolutely lack the manpower for traffic sweeps.  People are afraid to go out at night and DUIs are not the reason. 

 

I'm not saying crimes are never committed from cars, I'm saying the proportion and average seriousness of crimes committed from cars in Cleveland, when compared with those not committed from cars, does not match the emphasis currently placed on their enforcement/prevention.

 

First Priority--triage--guard current and potential victims from crimes that are occurring or about to occur... deter crime through constant visible personal presence.

 

Not First Priority--passive, effort-efficient methods intended to deter traffic infractions and to round up principles from crimes already committed.  If that many people are running around with warrants, we need bounty hunters, we don't need to sacrifce preventative law enforcement.

 

Every place has problems with erratic drivers, DUI, etc.  I'm not saying those aren't serious.  Cleveland has a particular (though not unique) problem with violent crime and it is a different kind of serious. 

 

 

I don't think a ride along with one officer is enough for us to draw any real conclusions about overall CPD strategies or their effectiveness.  I don't think that was the point of the article.

nor would i call what he does traffic enforcement.  From what I gathered he IS out in the neighborhood seeking out crime, responding to calls, etc.  He just happens to run the plates of everything he deems suspicious. I don't see why you wouldn't do that.  It's hardly like he's sitting in a car at the same intersection all night drinking coffee and eating donuts waiting to nab someone with a radar gun or running a red light.

OK I'm not doing a good job here... the article brought a broader issue to my mind, one with which my experience is admittedly anecdotal.  But I am drawing conclusions from more than just the article.  I've been trying to make two separate points and mixed them all up.  Point one, about dispatch's courtesy and responsiveness-- unrelated to the article, story told, not everyone's experience, OK.

 

Point two, regarding strategy... I do question the amount of time the officers spend in their cars.  Not a donut issue, per se, but I think officers out walking around is a stronger deterrent than those same officers at that same place, sitting in a car.  Of course there need to be some cruisers driving around for rapid react purposes.  Let those officers run plates, although I'd prefer they do so only with cause [separate issue].  My point is that I think the majority of the force should be too busy actively keeping the sidewalks safe to have any opportunity to run plates.  Most plates they run are innocent people, ergo time lost.  Every moment spent foot patrolling, say, St. Clair & Addison, vastly improves safety there.  My unscientific observation is that outside of downtown during business hours and special events, I almost never see a CPD officer on foot.  I would like to see more.

 

Rant concluded, sorry if I upset anybody.       

327, Honey, it would take more than you stating your opinion to "upset" anyone here on UrbanOhio.  Just ask DanB.  :-D

this weekend some family members in Brooklyn Center saw a gun fight, called 911, and CPD was there almost immediately.

 

Speaking of the fish house, I have been in a couple times since this incident. I am not sure when it happened, but their dispaly coolers have not been replaced yet. They are nice people and hope they recover. I had some fried fish to go yesterday and it was great.

 

I just really, really, really hope people on cleveland.com won't twist things into some negative portrayal of the city .. as in, "See? Cleveland is the only dangerous place around. I'm leaving as fast as I can!!"

 

I never got that from reading the article the first time, but you make a good point by bringning it up, im outta here!!!   :laugh:

 

That's what I meant when I said, "Positive or negative?"  I live in the Second District and am glad to have someone like Jim working and living in my neighborhood.

 

Gladly, the author didn't turn the article into a piece about how this is some kind of typical night in Cleveland.

 

oh i know that, i was just kidding on in my previous comment.

OK I'm not doing a good job here... the article brought a broader issue to my mind, one with which my experience is admittedly anecdotal. But I am drawing conclusions from more than just the article. I've been trying to make two separate points and mixed them all up. Point one, about dispatch's courtesy and responsiveness-- unrelated to the article, story told, not everyone's experience, OK.

 

Point two, regarding strategy... I do question the amount of time the officers spend in their cars. Not a donut issue, per se, but I think officers out walking around is a stronger deterrent than those same officers at that same place, sitting in a car. Of course there need to be some cruisers driving around for rapid react purposes. Let those officers run plates, although I'd prefer they do so only with cause [separate issue]. My point is that I think the majority of the force should be too busy actively keeping the sidewalks safe to have any opportunity to run plates. Most plates they run are innocent people, ergo time lost. Every moment spent foot patrolling, say, St. Clair & Addison, vastly improves safety there. My unscientific observation is that outside of downtown during business hours and special events, I almost never see a CPD officer on foot. I would like to see more.

 

Rant concluded, sorry if I upset anybody.

 

I think the strategy point is a legitimate one.  I know nothing about policing strategy, but it seems intuitive that police presence would deter crime.  This is particularly relavent in areas that are experiencing nascent growth, like downtown, univ. circle, tremont, and ohio city.  After getting off work the other day, I saw some mounted police walking around the public square area.  Thats a great start!

Anti-gang squad shows an impact; 300 arrests, 25 guns taken

Posted by dsims October 08, 2008 18:51PM

Lonnie Timmons III/The Plain DealerCleveland Police Officer Michael Budny, a member of the recently formed Gang Impact Squad, escorts a gang member from the Hough Avenue area to a police cruiser.

Six months after a Gang Impact Squad was formed to combat violence in Cleveland, the unit has arrested scores of violent criminals.

 

was that last line a not so subtle shout out to Ice Cube's 93 hit?

 

"..and I didn't even have to use my AK, I have to say, today was a good day."

327, Honey, it would take more than you stating your opinion to "upset" anyone here on UrbanOhio. Just ask DanB. :-D

 

Great, now I'm upset.  What a way to start the day!

 

 

327, Honey, it would take more than you stating your opinion to "upset" anyone here on UrbanOhio.  Just ask DanB.  :-D

 

Great, now I'm upset.  What a way to start the day!

HUSH!  We know that's a lie!

^ Yet another reason to merge Fire and EMS into one service.  Let the current EMS workers remain medics only and cross train those that would want to do both aspects of the job.  New hires would be required to do both jobs.  There are already 150 paramedic trained firefighters (out of 900) on the CFD (including myself) and the rest are EMT trained.  This would stop duplication of services (dual response to the same incident), duplication of officers in charge, duplication of dispatching, would put ambulances at fire stations which are already strategically placed, would ultimately cut down in payroll and number of people needed to do the job.  Why hasn't Cleveland done what most major cities have done and have a merged service?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Maybe we should ask our coucilperson why they haven't taken a step to save money and provide a better service for the city of Cleveland.

 

It seems the media will NOT touch this subject because it is too political.  It's unfortunate that there is not enough backbone by the media to report this kind of story for fear of political fallout.  The biggest problem the city has with Fire and Police is that the testing is a civil service process, while EMS has the ability to appoint a candidate.  In short, race and gender issues come into play.  It's too bad that such an issue should come into play when it comes to safety and fiscal soundness of our city.

^Amen.

 

"Recently, Flask has said that the fire department can't keep 42 stations open when there's only enough money for 41 fire stations."

 

So the ideal way to resolve it is to close the most central/strategically located station in the city? :roll:

It seems the media will NOT touch this subject because it is too political.

 

I've written about it in the past when it's been proposed in the past. Now would seem like an opportune time for me to bring it up again.

Not saying you wouldn't touch the subject, KJP, but it's how the subject is covered.  If I were a reporter (which I am not), I would want to talk to multiple councilpeople, EMS union, and the Fire Union to get a multidimensional viewpoint.  On top of that, I would want to do some investigative work as to how the proposed merger would be implemented, how other cities have done it (or how they run a dual service department), and the possible monetary savings.

 

As I have stated before Fire has an estimated 900 uniformed members (all EMT trained and roughly 150 paramedic trained) EMS has about 300 uniformed members.  Two services that provide emergency medical responses for the city, most of the time, both services are sent to the same incident.  Both services have their own dispatch system and their own supervisors.  Why not merge the systems into ONE service?  You could start by having one streamlined supervisor system and one dispatch system (already that would save money)  Second, you could put all members in one service, so all members would be on the same page and work under the same guidelines.  Paramedics could remain paramedics only and those that would like could be cross trained as firefighters as well.  Through attrition, all new hires would have to be firefighters and paramedics.  To work on an ambulance for a 24 hour shift would be grueling, so like some cities do, the medic could work part of the shift on the EMS unit and the other part on an engine or ladder truck (Akron does this).  I believe this would severely cut back on the current EMS employee turnover rate, which would save money for constant hiring and retraining.  At first there would be growing pains, but in the (not so) long run, the city would be able to do more work with less employees and duplication.  Cities such as Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron, Philly, Seattle, LA, Phoenix, Boston, NYC...the list goes on and on...all have a merged system...so why wouldn't it work in Cleveland?  If facts show a savings in money and a more efficient system, then my question as a reporter would have to be WHY isn't the city implementing this?  This is just a quick summary of what could be done, but it should give an idea of what could be done to save the city money and still provide a first class service.

I might have been able to do a more in-depth, investigative piece once upon a time. But we're being asked to do much more these days -- we're doing much more neighborhood-based news which means less run-through articles and photos among multiple papers. So when we used to write several articles a week spread among, say, five newspapers, now we write five articles a week for those same five papers. We're also being asked to take a lot more photographs since we aren't supposed to run-through stuff anymore. That also means writing more photo captions. Plus we're told to write at least one blog item per day for cleveland.com, in addition to all the news shorts/briefs and community announcements we've always done. And since none of us are enriched by working at a community newspaper, many of us work second jobs and, in mine, I'm being asked to do more there, too.

 

So the short version of all this is that such an article you envision isn't likely, unless I can get to it in the "slow news" times of the year (ie: January and July). Not impossible, but certainly less likely.

Just, wow.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/10/large_alligator_greets_cops_in.html

 

Raid finds pot, Corvette, Harley -- and an alligator standing guard

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/10/large_alligatorthatguardedpot.jpg

Shooting downtown last night, I'm sure that Channel 19 and the Cleveland.com idiots will be all over it...

 

 

Fatal house fire, 5 shot in unrelated incidents overnight

Posted by Donna J. Miller/Plain Dealer Reporter October 29, 2008 06:30AM

Categories: Breaking News, Crime, Fire, Real Time News

 

CLEVELAND -- Five people were shot overnight in Cleveland and one person died in a house fire.

 

The first shooting happened about 12:15 a.m. at West 89th Street and Detroit Avenue. A man was shot in the leg.

 

...

 

www.cleveland.com

There is no bar in the 1800 block of Euclid.  Do they mean Becky's?  It's never struck me as a fightin' bar.

The woman's blog is http://thislifeinwriting.blogspot.com/, if anyone is compelled to write a pro-Cleveland reply to her.

---

'Chorus Line' actors who were robbed sing no praises about Cleveland

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Mark Puente

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

A group of actors are elated to be away from Cleveland after they were robbed at gunpoint and had to hire private-security guards to escort them from the theater to their hotels.

It's actually been amazing that for what seems like an eternity nothing has been going on, crime wise that is. 

^^ If you click on the comments to her blog post, someone wrote a very good pro-Cleveland reply. As much as I love living downtown, I have to say that Euclid from East 14 to East 9th is creepy at night and I could understand why someone who stays in the PHS area would have a negative view of downtown.

It's actually been amazing that for what seems like an eternity nothing has been going on, crime wise that is. 

 

I don't think that would be much consolation to these actors, unfortunately.

Thats very scary, I am down there all of the time...if I park for games I usually walk down Huron though to get to East 9th..

^Don't get me wrong, it was a brazen crime no matter how you look at it. But keep in mind that they were on East 13th, and it was likely pretty late. That little stretch of 13th past the Sterling building is a pretty desolate pocket without any residential until you get to the Parkview Manor. and if there was one or two streetlights out, that makes it even less safe.

I walk through there frequently at night.  Never had a problem.  Maybe I look scary, mumbling to myself and smiling for no reason.  That said, the stretch of Euclid in question should never ever be without police presence.  Not for one moment.  If there are resources to have guys sit and wait for someone to jaywalk at E6 during the day, there are plenty of resources to have safety patrols at night.  Once again, this is a misallocation so appalling we deserve bad publicity until we make the change.  Too much money has been sunk into Euclid Ave to let people get chased away from it. 

I'm pretty pro city, think downtown is quite safe... but even I do not f with 13th North of Euclid or the 9th to 14th stretch of Euclid after dark.  Quite frankly, there's just nothing there, and desolation is a good breeding ground for crime.

Is Carter Manor on Prospect often a source of problems or is this an isolated incident? I live down the street but I am curious about how people who live right by it feel?

I wish I could put the residents in a barge take them to the middle of lake erie and....

 

Well it is a source of "conflict", it's not uncommon to hear people yelling at each other... but obviously nothing like this has happened in the last 5 years anyway.  Typically it's more an issue of car breaks in and vandalism in the area that I would directly link to this property.