Violent crime is down across the city and police recruits are up, the mayor and police chief said in a press conference on Monday.
As 36 new officers were getting ready to graduate in an adjacent room on the seventh floor of the Justice Center, Mayor Justin Bibb announced the effects of a two-month, multi-agency crackdown on crime.
Robberies are down by a quarter, Bibb and Chief Dorothy Todd reported, as are vehicle thefts; felony assaults, homicides and burlgaries have plummeted about 15 percent; rapes have dropped 28 percent.
That crackdown, which involved assistance from U.S. marshals and FBI agents, ran from mid-October to mid-December. It was a surge of resources that showed results—338 felony-level arrests, 130 stolen vehicles found, to name just two examples cited.
On Monday, Bibb lauded the crackdown as a clear byproduct of his Raising Investment in Safety initiative, a tough-on-crime stance that has lured more officers to the local force with increased pay and benefits. Bibb reported a more than 350 percent jump in hired officers in the past two years of academy graduations.
Throwing in a $5,000 sign-on bonus to a $66,000 starting salary for one of the most dangerous jobs in Cleveland, Bibb said, is part of why RISE is showing results. Along with speeding up the time from application to receiving one’s badge.
“Before we made these changes, it took 18 months—18 months for someone to join the Division of Police,” he said.
“Now we’ve cut the time to hire to four months,” he added. “If you’ve been waiting 18 months to get an offer letter, you’re going to find another job. In this economy, we can’t afford to let process get in the way.”
Along with the CPD’s new $90 million headquarters on Superior Ave., Bibb is aiming to revamp the police department’s five district headquarters with a $21 million modernization. A price tag Bibb believes will be “paid for” with an energy-saving build, he said in an October release.
“The numbers are a part of the story,” Todd said. “But the commitment that the men and women have here in the Division of Polie for reducing crime never stops.”