Another standoff?

[Bill Call]

I don't think it is time to hit the panic button.

I found this site interesting:

http://www.lkwdpl.org/history/24crime.htm

Does anyone have current numbers on court cases?

[Charyn Compeau]

That information is harder to find through public databases as court dockets include both misdemeanor and felony cases. While it is a bit easier to find the data on felony cases, it still presents a challenge because the best public databases rank by largest counties/jurisdictions nationwide. Lakewood is not large enough to be included as a separate entity in those instances.

To add to the confusion is the treatment of juvenile cases - which are handled at country level, and thus would not be listed in the Lakewood court system and further skewing the numbers.

The best way to get that data (unless there is a db I have missed) is to request it from the courts.

Kind regards,
Charyn

[stephen davis]

That's it! I'm moving. I'm going to an outer ring suburb where there is a lot less crime and madness.



Wait.

Newsnet5 just reported a nude 19 year old man running around his neighborhood with a double-barreled shotgun that robbed a truck from some telephone workers in STRONGSVILLE.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/10841483/detail.html



Never mind.

[Jim O'Bryan]

I don't think it is time to hit the panic button.

I found this site interesting:

http://www.lkwdpl.org/history/24crime.htm

Does anyone have current numbers on court cases?

Bill

I think the police and fire are better too.

Did you see this one?

It is my favorite Lakewood story

http://www.lkwdpl.org/history/liquor.html

[Jim O'Bryan]

Photos from Observer Dave Skolyak


Sgt. Ed Favre leaves the house, as SWAT moves in.



SWAT's Mini Tank moves in.



SWAT officer signals OK.



SWAT lines up ready to go in.



SWAT team releases the pigeon.

more coming.

[Michael Fleenor]

Thank you Charyn for your graphs and analysis. Although this type of thing is disturbing, it could happen anywhere, regardless of racial or economic demographics, and would not likely be avoided by having a larger police force.

The media will exploit these activities for a few days. Your statistics really help cut to the reality and what is important.

[Shawn Juris]

why did swat release the pigeon? are they on the same communications system as the housing inspectors were on (before citistat identified and corrected the problem)?

[DougHuntingdon]

I feel dumb for also not knowing about the pigeon. I did a google search and nothing. Perhaps it is an attack pigeon that will go inside the house to make the suspect surrender?

Doug

[Ivor Karabatkovic]

aren't doves more tasty?

[Jeff Endress]

The pigeon was released after questioning when it was determined that he was not a jail bird, but rather a stool pigeon

Jeff

[Kenneth Warren]

In the city that would know itself better than any other city in history and thereby enter into the Guinness Book of World Records, the SWAT pigeon must be understood as an immensely evocative photographic capture of an operation which extravagantly demands free association of homies and the realization of our branding goal.

Until we can know precisely the esoteric and exoteric purposes the SWAT pigeon must serve, I can only supply hard and soft mythic filters at hand to this most curious and evocative manifestation of winged life in a time of terror.

How long must a community riff on the SWAT pigeon, fathoming wild reaches of magic and mental health until a wholly satisfactory rational explanation is supplied by authorities?

Sometimes we find solace in statistics. Indeed, Lakewood is not alone in the SWAT experience. “In recent years American police forces have called out SWAT teams 40,000 or more times annually,â€Â

[Gary Rice]

Great shot Dave!

As an old photojournalist m'self, my hat's off to you for capturing the moment with that pigeon!

There seems to be some controversy regarding why SWAT apparently uses a pigeon.

I would guess that there might be situations without electricity, where communications with the control area would be essential. I would just guess that SWAT is just training a bird, or birds, to rapidly get info back to base, when normal lines of communication are severed.

If so, this is a great. historic, and reliable use of one of our best animal friends. I remember reading somewhere that pigeons were domesticated for so long that they have to live around humans. Carrier pigeons have a great historical track record of military success, and have served with distinction in many wars.

Yay for pigeons!

[Jim O'Bryan]

Ken

From the "Song for Peace"

And if a dove can fly, then our dream can soar.
We'll take back the night, study war no more.
Let's give peace a chance, all the people sing.
Come and join the dance. Let the dove take wing.

------

Alas, we may never know. Possibly the dove or pigeon has always been used by SWAT. Perhaps they are part of a Homeland Security package. I do remember when Lakewood had maybe 30 people that raised and raced carrier pigeons. Without the shot of Observer Dave, the whole program might have stayed secret.

Thanks Dave.

.

[Mark Crnolatas]

Some "thinking out loud" here and not addressed to anyone in particular:

I don't bring a graph (nice job by the way) nor am I prepared to quote stats on crime per square mile or growth of crime per 1000 people from x time to y time, I do know several "old salts" on Cleveland P.D., and other police departments, as well as retired officers and a couple retired police chiefs.

From talking for many many hours with the guys and gals over the years (well over 20) on these depts and agencies, plus a few people from assorted 3 letter agencies, while our company did it's thing, the prospect of crime diminishing rather than climbing in an inner ring suburb, is nearly unheard of if not totally unheard of, in the long run. Sure, over a few months it can decrease, but over the long run, it climbs.

This is why I've been an advocate of supporting whatever is possible to put up the levees, for once the storm has breached those, the police departments are forever playing the game of "catch up", rather than prevention. The guys and gals have to spend more time taking reports of situations that already happened, rather than being able to patrol and take the high visabilty route, and be more preventative, than they would like.

Have a talk with any Cleveland police officer. Take a look at how many calls they must answer in a shift, and how much time they usually have per call before being called to go to the next one.

Answer? More equipment, better equipment, and more officers per 1000 citizens, most who would be visable and able to respond to the call load.
If anyone has invented a better way, I'd be interested in hearing it, and so would a few friends of mine I think.

Kevin, your welcome to comment, and hopefully correct me in painting this picture not of negativity, but of historical trend.

If we need to get money to L.P.D., my vote is "lets do it", along with any other helpful programs that can help "stem the tide".

[ryan costa]

The ultimate way for policemen to be visible is through foot patrols. Those are kind of antiquated though. Besides, cops make way more money than they did back in those days. I'd settle for a scooter patrol.

There are two main ways cities decay in terms of crime. One is that good people move out. So there is more room for low-lifes to move in. The second is that kids in the city grow up to be low lifes. This is just as common in more affluent suburbs, it is only less visible and audible.

The recent standoffs aren't quite violent crimes, unless they had injured hostages.

A stat from Asphalt Nation said 70 percent of law enforcement time or money is spent dealing with automobile traffic accidents and violations.

I'm not 150 years old, so can't remember the differences between police over the ages and populations over the ages. The perception seems to be that cops who are the worst jerks are from Los Angeles. Los Angeles was the Vanguard of American Suburbia. Today it has both the worst social decay and the worst hyper-inflation of housing prices.

In one worse case scenario automobile over-dependence and subsidized suburbia begets a separation between police and their constituents. They go one way and the constituents go another. To bridge the gap very oblique professional standards are developed, then a clique-ism evolves. Services become less effective over all, much more expensive, yet capable of brief spurts of impressive technological proficiency. The same has happened in Medicine and Education.