September 24, 201014 yr Wow are the CPD stretched thin. I was in a traffic accident on W14th and Starkweather at 4:50, both cars badly damaged, the other guys not drivable and it took 2 1/2 hours for a squad car to get there and take the report. We actually had an off duty detective stop on his way home and call dispatch directly to get somebody out. I guess it was crazy tonight with 2 incidents of shots fired in the district and a high speed chase.
October 13, 201014 yr Wow are the CPD stretched thin. I was in a traffic accident on W14th and Starkweather at 4:50, both cars badly damaged, the other guys not drivable and it took 2 1/2 hours for a squad car to get there and take the report. We actually had an off duty detective stop on his way home and call dispatch directly to get somebody out. I guess it was crazy tonight with 2 incidents of shots fired in the district and a high speed chase. Umm, they're like that all the time. They refuse to send anyone to report car breakins. Also, University Circle bank robbery #3 since Saturday. 2x Charter One, 1x Huntington. Bets on the tally before the week is up?
October 14, 201014 yr Were any of the bank robberies "armed" (meaning it was done with the use of a deadly weapon).... I ask because it seems we are seeing more and more "strong-arm" robberies around the City as of late.
October 14, 201014 yr ^ I don't think so... In one or two of them, they implied they had a gun in some way, but I don't think one ever appeared.
October 14, 201014 yr Thought so. I keep hearing more and more about these. It appears that East Cleveland and the surrounding area is really having a problem with PCP and the users get emboldened to do things like this unarmed. Truthfully, it is a smart play if you are a criminal and want to minimize your sentence if caught, but I highly doubt that is their rationale.
October 17, 201014 yr http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=153880 Cleveland: Two arrested after fatal Flats stabbing "CLEVELAND -- Two people are in custody following the death of a man outside the Earth nightclub in the Flats early Sunday morning. Police say the victim, Kevin Ghee, 25, of Warrensville Heights, and two suspects were arguing inside the club shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday morning. According to police, after the suspects were escorted out of the club, they waited outside for Ghee to leave and a fight began. Police believe one of the suspects pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim several times in the chest and neck..."
October 18, 201014 yr http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=153880 Cleveland: Two arrested after fatal Flats stabbing "CLEVELAND -- Two people are in custody following the death of a man outside the Earth nightclub in the Flats early Sunday morning. Police say the victim, Kevin Ghee, 25, of Warrensville Heights, and two suspects were arguing inside the club shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday morning. According to police, after the suspects were escorted out of the club, they waited outside for Ghee to leave and a fight began. Police believe one of the suspects pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim several times in the chest and neck..." Wait, 4am? Is that legal?
October 20, 201014 yr as of the 17th, Mr. Ghee was the 61st. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/10/2_more_homicides_in_cleveland.html
October 20, 201014 yr Thanks, that number, although still high, is a great improvement over last year. With two months left I could see us being under 80. Cleveland had 55 murders already last year by July 2nd. And we ended the year with 120. So if we could drop 40 murders this year, that would be a great improvement.
October 20, 201014 yr I just hope that last two months dont have the most like they did last year. This whole chart is pretty interesting, tells you by month and district. http://media.cleveland.com/metro/photo/02cgcrimejpg-dc84f20a1a44c009.jpg
October 20, 201014 yr Is it just me or are there more and more violent crimes happening right around Shaker Square?
October 20, 201014 yr The map on that link supports that thought. The southeast side of Cleveland covers a very large area. But I'm talking about within a couple blocks of Shaker Square. One of the murders in the article posted happened at Drexmore and S. Moreland. That's a stone's throw away from the square. And then of course there was the incident a few months ago where 5 people were robbed in the movie theater (on the same block) while watching a movie. And, for what it's worth (since it was a comment on cleveland.com), a commenter on the article claimed to have seen a rape/robbery in progress on the same corner a few months ago.
October 28, 201014 yr The jury convicted that Warmus guy.... the one who shot the parking lot attendent near the Q last season and then claimed self-defense. Jury didn't buy his story, which conflicted with all the witnesses version of events. One more thug off the street.
October 28, 201014 yr What a strange case. Strange?? Justice has been served. He got what he deserved and I believe the Judge was too lenient! http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/10/jury_in_warmus_murder_trial.html I love this quote from the Judge Gaul "I have a comment for you," Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Daniel Gaul told Warmus. "Few cases have shook the conscious of a community like this one has. You murdered a man for $10. People think that Cleveland is a dangerous place, but you're not even from Cleveland."
November 7, 201014 yr Are we still at 61 murders? No. There were 4 murders since the 17th according to crimereports. One in Lakewood too which is quite surprising.
November 7, 201014 yr Are we still at 61 murders? No. There were 4 murders since the 17th according to crimereports. One in Lakewood too which is quite surprising. Damn. I was hoping for under 70 this year. That would have been an amazing improvement from last year. If we can stay under 80 that will still be good. The ultimate goal is 0 but that is not realistic. For now all I want to see is improvement.
November 7, 201014 yr ^Why are you talking about "improvement from last year" like it's some kind of sports team record? The only way to "improve" our homicide rate is to improve the conditions that foster the gang and drug-related violence that causes up the vast majority of the homicides in this city.
November 7, 201014 yr ^Why are you talking about "improvement from last year" like it's some kind of sports team record? The only way to "improve" our homicide rate is to improve the conditions that foster the gang and drug-related violence that causes up the vast majority of the homicides in this city. And you can judge how we are doing by comparing the crimes from year to year. I see improvement when less people are dying.
November 7, 201014 yr Last year's murder rate in Cleveland was jacked up due to Anthony Sowell Still 120-11 is still 109 murders. 70 or 80 would be a huge drop
November 7, 201014 yr And you can judge how we are doing by comparing the crimes from year to year. I see improvement when less people are dying. No, you can't. I can see why you think that, but it's a gross oversimplification. Year-to-year numbers are pretty much meaningless. You have to look at long-term trends. We are a high-crime city primarily because we are a high-poverty city. Homicides dropped from the mid-nineties through the first part of the last decade, which corresponded to relative prosperity in the city. Population loss also slowed during that period. In the mid-2000s, there was a series of big arrests that led to a shakeup of the gang hierarchy on the streets. For the next few years, there was essentially a gang war going on, and that (along with the recession) caused an uptick in crime. Now, the gang war is basically over and we're slowly recovering from the recession, so the trend now is back towards a lower level of homicides. 75% of last year's homicides happened on the East Side, and 40% were in the southeast corner (District 4) alone. It's no coincidence that the areas of the city with the worst drug and gang problems see the most homicides. If you want the homicide rate to improve for real, and by that I mean over the long term, addiction and other programs in these neighborhoods need a big boost. The problem with that, of course, is money.
November 7, 201014 yr And you can judge how we are doing by comparing the crimes from year to year. I see improvement when less people are dying. No, you can't. I can see why you think that, but it's a gross oversimplification. Year-to-year numbers are pretty much meaningless. You have to look at long-term trends. We are a high-crime city primarily because we are a high-poverty city. Homicides dropped from the mid-nineties through the first part of the last decade, which corresponded to relative prosperity in the city. Population loss also slowed during that period. In the mid-2000s, there was a series of big arrests that led to a shakeup of the gang hierarchy on the streets. For the next few years, there was essentially a gang war going on, and that (along with the recession) caused an uptick in crime. Now, the gang war is basically over and we're slowly recovering from the recession, so the trend now is back towards a lower level of homicides. 75% of last year's homicides happened on the East Side, and 40% were in the southeast corner (District 4) alone. It's no coincidence that the areas of the city with the worst drug and gang problems see the most homicides. If you want the homicide rate to improve for real, and by that I mean over the long term, addiction and other programs in these neighborhoods need a big boost. The problem with that, of course, is money. Money as well as success rates. Its hard to break addictions.
November 7, 201014 yr We are a high-crime city primarily because we are a high-poverty city. This does not have to be the reality. It is too often a convenient excuse, especially in the US where it has become our reality so much. It should be noted that not all those committing crimes would suddenly become upstanding law abiding citizens if they had a job pocket full of money. Left out is the notion that some of these people, no matter if a job opportunity was thrown in their face on a daily basis, would opt to take that over the criminal ways they have adopted and embraced. They don't want to work. And, there are many factors as to why the criminal/self destructive lifestyle has been embraced....(we could debate these factors all day) One of many, that often prevails today, IMO from watching what goes on.... just may have something to do with children having no parenting and more often than not....the best examples they get are those which glamorizes anti-social and criminal-like behavior via the kind media they buy into and piss poor dysfunctional examples they see each day. They grow up with these..have kids..they grow up..and so on, the rotten cycle continues. Yes, there are shining exceptions, but not the rule...But, it is those exceptions that can help set better examples. Its sad that when they do try and set good examples, however, that they are often scorned as sell outs or whatever derogatory name they would be called. To the ignorant, intelligence is intimidating. Nevertheless, being poor monetarily, although it is certainly associated here with high crime, does not always automatically mean that such results in a high crime place. Better examples don't take a lot of money.....Let's examine them: I have traveled many places on this planet and have witnessed "poor" places that have little...and what little they have they take pride in and want to make as nice as they can...and those in such places have often been the nicest people I have met and non-violent and the kind of crime we witness in declining neighborhoods here is not an issue like it is here. Not to say they don't have problems/issues, but they have good families who stick together....key word being real "families" Now, I know we think we know it all and have it all figured out in our mere 235 years of existence and cannot possibly learn anything from cultures that have lasted for thousands of years....but Perhaps we can learn something here in young America. Throwing around money without a plan or direction is not magically going to solve bad crime situations in neighborhoods here. It comes down to HOW the money is spent.... and you don't go throwing money around to those who have no clue how to use it wisely in a way to eradicate the ignorance or prevent the problems of decline in the first place. As is, you could throw them all the cash you want, but if the person who receives it is feral and un-molded, it will not do a damn bit of good. If there is money to throw around, let's use it to establish centers that begin with the children.....teach children better examples in life...all that which they never received from lack of parenting.... To implement better nutrition and teach valuable trade skills and/or expose them to things in the world they can get involved with that they never realized such as how to become the next Jacques Cousteau, and offer something socially redeeming to the world... instead of becoming the next media glamorized street criminal addicted to fast food and thinking going out and buying a bunch of material crap once they have the cash will make all in life dandy. That is how I would spend it....Basically to help craft a more articulate and intelligent community; one that will also learn that crime is not the only alternative when you lack cash. Many cultures did not have a monetary system and have thrived. It amazes me that we have become so assimilated that we can fathom no other way to live. It is one thing to lack money in a society that has designed itself around being dependent upon it to get our needs....and struggle and commit crimes to get those "needs" Another thing to discover that its not the only alternative, nor does lacking it mean that you have to have the high crime to follow. Time to plant the seeds of changing this mindset, but it is a major mountain to climb that will take years of deprogramming. Anyway, that is how I would spend it.... Not just throw it at them blindly expect all will fix itself. This has been done that for years and it has not worked. Just giving everyone a job and pocket full of cash will not change who they are inside and what they've been used to. We are more poor in knowledge and common sense than anything else..and it does not take a lot of money or jobs to learn this. Call this all fairy tale idealist in its own right....but if we've lost ideals, we have nothing left. And that is a part of the problem with those poor lost individuals who think they have to resort to street crime. But, some must actually may enjoy it because it was made to look "cool"and normal by the disturbing examples they see. Easier to take something and not work for it in their eyes.
November 8, 201014 yr It should be noted that not all those committing crimes would suddenly become upstanding law abiding citizens if they had a job pocket full of money. Of course not "all".... but enough to make a noticeable dent in the crime rates.
November 8, 201014 yr Actually, I agree that if we're going to have public assistance, welfare, etc. - it should be tied to some sort of very basic ethical/moral framework. Charity traditionally went through the churches. If the state (or corporation) is really going to supplant them, they need to adopt a basic, secular guideline by which progress is measured in ways other than just bottom lines and dollar amounts. Dollars aren't a bad measure, really, but they aren't the only one. And it would be nice if the prisons actually did rehabilitate more than a few criminals. But that IS a pure money problem. There's no way to pay for it...
November 21, 201014 yr Downtown Cleveland's PlayhouseSquare district is safer than many think; with interactive map It's safer to attend "Billy Elliot," which officially opens tonight, than to live in some of the suburbs many of the theater district's patrons hail from. And to provide an accurate picture relevant to theater patrons, it counts only the number of visitors to PlayhouseSquare events last year, 850,343. It excludes thousands more who work or live in the district, or who visit for other purposes. Using those criteria, the violent-crime rate in PlayhouseSquare last year was five incidents per 100,000 visitors. The property-crime rate was 16 incidents per 100,000 visitors. Those statistics are infinitesimal compared with the FBI's national crime rate per 100,000 people for 2009: 429 for violent crime, 3,036 for property. Even when compared with Solon, which the FBI says is far safer than the country as a whole, PlayhouseSquare wins. The eastern Cuyahoga County suburb has a rate of 41 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. (Solon has only 22,000 actual residents, but crime rates are measured per 100,000 people, requiring an extrapolation.) Which means that, according to the analysis, a Solon resident would be eight times more likely to be a victim of a violent crime if he stayed in his hometown than he would be while seeing a show at PlayhouseSquare. But to further test The Plain Dealer analysis, let's say that all the crime reported in the theater district during 2009 took place over just two average months, when attendance would be about 142,000, one-sixth of the annual number of visitors. Doing that skews the PlayhouseSquare crime rate upward sixfold, lopsidedly tilting the playing field in favor of Solon. Even in that rigged comparison, a Solon resident would still be about a third more likely to be mugged, robbed, raped or killed in Solon than if he went to PlayhouseSquare. Any reasonable interpretation of the data leads to only one conclusion: If you want to avoid crime, seeing a show at PlayhouseSquare is a good bet. http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2010/11/downtown_clevelands_playhouses.html
November 21, 201014 yr Downtown Cleveland's PlayhouseSquare district is safer than many think; with interactive map It's safer to attend "Billy Elliot," which officially opens tonight, than to live in some of the suburbs many of the theater district's patrons hail from. And to provide an accurate picture relevant to theater patrons, it counts only the number of visitors to PlayhouseSquare events last year, 850,343. It excludes thousands more who work or live in the district, or who visit for other purposes. Using those criteria, the violent-crime rate in PlayhouseSquare last year was five incidents per 100,000 visitors. The property-crime rate was 16 incidents per 100,000 visitors. Those statistics are infinitesimal compared with the FBI's national crime rate per 100,000 people for 2009: 429 for violent crime, 3,036 for property. Even when compared with Solon, which the FBI says is far safer than the country as a whole, PlayhouseSquare wins. The eastern Cuyahoga County suburb has a rate of 41 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. (Solon has only 22,000 actual residents, but crime rates are measured per 100,000 people, requiring an extrapolation.) Which means that, according to the analysis, a Solon resident would be eight times more likely to be a victim of a violent crime if he stayed in his hometown than he would be while seeing a show at PlayhouseSquare. But to further test The Plain Dealer analysis, let's say that all the crime reported in the theater district during 2009 took place over just two average months, when attendance would be about 142,000, one-sixth of the annual number of visitors. Doing that skews the PlayhouseSquare crime rate upward sixfold, lopsidedly tilting the playing field in favor of Solon. Even in that rigged comparison, a Solon resident would still be about a third more likely to be mugged, robbed, raped or killed in Solon than if he went to PlayhouseSquare. Any reasonable interpretation of the data leads to only one conclusion: If you want to avoid crime, seeing a show at PlayhouseSquare is a good bet. http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2010/11/downtown_clevelands_playhouses.html Great Article! First 2 comments are good but I would recommend not reading the rest.
November 21, 201014 yr Good. We need articles like this from the PD. That woman getting rundown by the juvenille a few years back really gave PHS a black eye.... even though the juvenille really had no connection to PHS and was only driving through because the police were chasing him (an error in judgment, one could argue). I'm sure this will cue stage left for the "inappropriate behavoir" crowd who will tell us their cousins neighbors sister was deficated on by a homeless man (the black'n'mild smokin' type) who then proceeded to empty the waste baskets on to the street for the sake of littering and then accomplished his get-away by jumping on an RTA bus without paying and at the invitation of the bus driver. Oh well.... some people just don't trust facts. To be honest, I was a victim of a crime at PHS just the other weekend. The wife got tix to the opera to see Pagliachi (or however it is spelled).... but that opera is rather short so the first Act was actually another opera (La Voix Humaine... or something like that). That first opera involved a single actress, a sofa, a chair, and a phone. It is 51 of the worst spent minutes in my life of this whiny b!tch on the phone with some guy who is understandably dumping the psycho. It doesn't even have any songs... it is just her singing through the conversatin. Awful story, awful acting. Downright criminal.
November 21, 201014 yr was deficated on by a homeless man (the black'n'mild smokin' type) who then proceeded to empty the waste baskets on to the street for the sake of littering and then accomplished his get-away by jumping on an RTA bus without paying and at the invitation of the bus driver. OMG that exact situation happens to me everyday :lol: haahahhah
December 9, 201014 yr I think we have 67 now <b>At 66 and counting, homicides decline steeply in Cleveland during 2010</b> CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland could end 2010 with the fewest homicides in a decade, perhaps even a half-century. The year-to-date total of 66 is three shy of the 50-year low, according to records compiled by the city's Public Safety Department. Homicides dropped to the second-lowest level -- 75 -- in 2000.... http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/12/at_66_and_counting_homicides_d.html
December 9, 201014 yr I think we have 67 now <b>At 66 and counting, homicides decline steeply in Cleveland during 2010</b> CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland could end 2010 with the fewest homicides in a decade, perhaps even a half-century. The year-to-date total of 66 is three shy of the 50-year low, according to records compiled by the city's Public Safety Department. Homicides dropped to the second-lowest level -- 75 -- in 2000.... http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/12/at_66_and_counting_homicides_d.html duh'oh I made the mistake and ready the comments section... Really, that is good news, especially given how thin the police are spread in the city..
December 9, 201014 yr I think we have 67 now <b>At 66 and counting, homicides decline steeply in Cleveland during 2010</b> CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland could end 2010 with the fewest homicides in a decade, perhaps even a half-century. The year-to-date total of 66 is three shy of the 50-year low, according to records compiled by the city's Public Safety Department. Homicides dropped to the second-lowest level -- 75 -- in 2000.... http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/12/at_66_and_counting_homicides_d.html I think we have 67 now <b>At 66 and counting, homicides decline steeply in Cleveland during 2010</b> CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland could end 2010 with the fewest homicides in a decade, perhaps even a half-century. The year-to-date total of 66 is three shy of the 50-year low, according to records compiled by the city's Public Safety Department. Homicides dropped to the second-lowest level -- 75 -- in 2000.... http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/12/at_66_and_counting_homicides_d.html they're probably all stashed in an abandoned project like "the wire"
December 9, 201014 yr duh'oh I made the mistake and ready the comments section... The first comment by "suburban_tool" was funny. I actually got quite a kick out of reading some of his comments last night on other articles. Like this one from the article about gridlock downtown: That's right. By now Cleveland should know it snows there in December and put a dome over the city. That way suburban pigs like me wouldn't have to block traffic and intersections trying to leave to city to get back to Strongsville. and you're right, a free for all! All those losers who live in the city of Cleveland either walk to work or know the back roads and can get into and out of the city with ease. However us suburban PIGS needed to get to that highway. I don't care that my Hummer blocked an intersection for 6 cycles. It's all about ME ME ME. I wonder if it's an UrbanOhioan.
December 10, 201014 yr Great news, but until I see it last for a few years, I'm going to chalk this up to a "statistical blip".
December 12, 201014 yr I agree with statistical blip, and the end of the year is one of the most violent times of the year due to the holiday time robberies, so expect that number to go up, there's already been 4 more so far. Also the criminals unfortunately seem to be getting a little bit smarter. There are shootings every night in this city, usually multiple shootings, and about 80% of the time they are shot below the waist. Maybe its a bad shot, but it appears to be that they wanna get their revenge yet "avoid the murder rap" and not spend the rest of their life in jail and take the Felonious Assault charge, build up their street cred, shoot below the waist so they don't kill them, and if caught only spend a few years in prison opposed to 30.
December 12, 201014 yr The actual number might be a blip, but the overall trend is downward after the high we had in 2007. I've posted before about gang issues and the homicide stats. Trends are the important thing, not raw numbers.
December 12, 201014 yr "Overall trend" since 2007? Too low a sample size. I hope it continues, though!
December 13, 201014 yr For those of you who live in either Ohio City or Tremont, how relative or apparent is the crime in your neighborhood. Just looking at crime reports, it appears that there is a fairly large amount of crime that occurs in those neighborhoods. What is your view on the crime from the view of someone actually living there?
December 13, 201014 yr There is a fairly large amount of *reported* crime that occurs in those neighborhoods.
December 13, 201014 yr Usually that indicates that a fairly large amount of crime occurs in those neighborhoods.
December 13, 201014 yr Did I say otherwise? Last time I looked in my hornbook, reported crime = crime. But, just in case someone wanted to do a comparative analysis, "crime reports" don't always paint a full picture when you compare areas like Tremont and OC, where the residents will more than likely report minor crimes, to neighborhoods where calling the cops violates some kind of street code. I would rather live in a place where people actually report crime. For instance, after my car was broken into last week, I went straight to all my neighbors andd told them to lock up at night. One family, who had moved in last year from colinwood told me that the same thing happened to their son's car the weekend before. What pissed me off is that they hadn't called the cops and hadn't told any of the neighbors.
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