FBI in Lakewood

[dl meckes]

Doug-

Every volunteer who contributes to the Observer project is "staff."

That includes you.

[Charyn Compeau]

Oh Suzeanne -

Don't forget we will be asked to pay more for these privileges soon.

Ohhhh - or maybe I can go the conspiracy theorist route and say that this is a cunning play to set the stage to ensure that the next tax hike is approved - you know... the old "if we had the money we would fix it routine"

Yea - thats it. A politician is turning a blind eye to potential threats to the citizens for political gain.

yea... that must be it.


Always,
Charyn

(and for those who are painfully literal let me simply say that my tongue is planted quite firmly in my cheek thank-you-very-much)

[Rick Uldricks]

There was a recent drug raid on my street with a shooting, and arrests, and yesterday - an FBI agent was shot. News crews have been here reporting the crime and the shooting.

HOWEVER, I haven't seen a police car drive down my street ALL DAY. You'd think that they might drive down Wyandotte a few times just to make residents feel more at ease.

Perhaps the cars with the booming audio systems going 40mph down the street are undercover operatives...

[Joe Ott]

Police reports are supposed to be public record, but good luck getting a copy if you are not the media, a politician, an attorney, a major businessman, or someone whom the police fear/respect for whatever reason. Having said that, I am sure staff of the LO would be able to get a copy, since the LO is a major media force.

Doug

Doug, I've said it before - the city works hard at trying to minimize these events. There's a lot going on crime wise we don't know about.

Joe

[Joe Ott]

OMIGAWD! What drug raid!!! I wasn't aware of this. WTF!!! What is going on!!!

Rick. Are you serious? You don't know what's going on? Read Feagler's column in todays PD. That pretty much nails it. We are giving Lakewood away to these punks.

And before somebody says "what does Feagler know, he lives in Bay". I know I know... But he grew up in Cleveland and got run out just like my father inlaw grew up in Cleveland and was run out as well. They will eventually run me out further west.

Joe

[Marty Hout]

Let me see if I have this right... The police are doing a bad job because they raided a drug house ? I thought that was a good thing? A few months back someone posted that their husband was arrested for driving with fictitious plates, which is clearly illegal and the police were criticized for enforcing the law... There is alot of criticizing of the LPD. I'm curious as to how you think the unfortunate shooting of an FBI agent could have been prevented? Lakewood Police do the best they can with what they have. I'm sorry that people drive around with their car stereos too loud but, if they are not making a loud car stereo a priority and concentrating on real crimes then I'll take loud music any day.

[Rick Uldricks]

Lakewood Police do the best they can with what they have.

Mary, I think you're missing the point. Tell me, how would feel if you had one of these signs in front of your house?

[Marty Hout]

The question remains... How do the police prevent it ? Police on every street? Cameras on every corner? I have been a lifelong resident of Lakewood, some 38 years. No one is disturbed about the crime in this city more than I. I was hired some years back to create the Juvenile Diversion Program in Lakewood. It started out a huge success. After two years it became a political window dressing program for the Cain administration to herd juvenile offenders through and I'm pretty sure the program today is not what I had created. Myself along with Jim Muth from the Youth Office had a plan to create a program that would address the behavior of the juvenile and then use a competency building approach to help the juvenile from re-offending. I worked out of the Police Department and was welcomed with open arms by the Patrol Officers, The Juvenile Detectives and the PD Administration. City Hall wanted numbers. After all the more kids you push through, the more money they could ask for. All said and done a vision of two city employees trying to make a real difference and hopefully stopping a criminal pattern turns into a numbers game for grant money. Which is now coming back to bite us in the rear ! So after getting all that off my chest I guess my point is that the Lakewood Police do the best they can. If your looking to point fingers or blame people. Blame the ones that tie their hands or send the offenders back onto the streets. The men and women of the LPD may not be perfect but, they deserve so much more respect than they are given here. I've been holding that in for years, thanks for the opportunity to vent.

[Brian Simko]

My friends and I spoke with two FBI agents last evening, as the previous night(Friday) we were around the corner at the Grafton Street Pub for last call, out on the town for a friend's birthday.
There were two young men of the suspects' general description who came in after us to play pool, which is not necessarily commonplace in this pub, but I've certainly seen black men and women in the Grafton before. The off-duty FBI agent was also allegedly in there at this time as well.
I could not with 100% assurance pick out these two suspects from the agents' series of mugshots with more than general description of clothing, age & build, for my attention was not on them but the friends I was with, as was the case with nearly everyone else I know that the agents spoke to. My best guess why he 'particularly' was car-jacked would be the type of car he was driving.
A friend of mine who had a slight bit more interaction with the suspects is working with the police and sketch artist this evening to hopefully make some headway in this potential lead.
On a positive note, we were given the impression that the off-duty agent is going to be okay. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

[Mike Deneen]

I'm glad to hear the news about the victim. I hope we get this case solved soon.

p.s. Welcome to the deck, Brian.....now get back to work on the paper!

[john crino]

Maybe this is the kind of exposure we need - an FBI same way calling in suspcious activity.

Lakewood, has got to go back to being the city, no criminal wants to even drive through.

.

A way to add some positive to this would be if Lakewood passed an emergency police levy in response.

[ryan costa]

I rode down Cohassett Avenue from Madison to Detroit yesterday. There were very many homes for sale. Much more than normal. They were larger homes, with larger sized yards. All the homes appeared well maintained. The yards were well maintained.

Is it just a coincidence so many were for sale? Are homeowners worried about that area getting all Clevelanded-Up?

[Rick Uldricks]

I rode down Cohassett Avenue from Madison to Detroit yesterday. There were very many homes for sale. Much more than normal. They were larger homes, with larger sized yards. All the homes appeared well maintained. The yards were well maintained.

Is it just a coincidence so many were for sale? Are homeowners worried about that area getting all Clevelanded-Up?

Residents are worried about their safety, their property value, and their quality of life.

[Mark Crnolatas]

I don't know the number of police officers on L.P.D., but I'm willing to bet it is less, or far less than the recommended number of officer/1000 people.

We have a great police department, but it's also hand-tied like every other police department in one way or another.

People can play the denial game, but the fact is, Lakewood borders on Cleveland. It's not the '50s or '60s anymore either.

If we as residents of Lakewood do not want to see Lakewood follow crime stats of the other inner ring burbs bordering on Cleveland, then we have to do something different than they did. Key word "different".

My guess is they depended on "it's not so bad now" mentality, which appears to me to be the general mentality in our city.

I'm just one person who doesn't gather much attention, nor have any influence or stature in the city. I do however have an opinion, and well over 20 years experience in dealing with the problems of crime, human nature, and what happens "if".

I made many predictions based on experience, back some years ago on the Buzz, and why we need citizens to take an active part in watching and reporting what we see going on on our streets, beyond the block watch of taking a look out our window, and making a call to the police once a year.

Unfortunately my predictions are increasingly becoming visable, more crimes that are visable etc, yet the citizens of Lakewood in general do not want anything to do with more than it has been for the past 100 years.

Once I was asked, after posting some predictions, what are the solutions.
A few years later, I'll state the same ones.

Give the police what they need to do the job as they know it has to be done.
The manpower numbers should be right on the dot, not one officer less.
Give LPD the equipment they need as they know what is needed. It should be the best equipped police dept. in N.E. Ohio.

It's too late for bandaid time now, it's time to build toward stopping the spread of urban crime creeping west more than it has. It was time for that 5 or 10 years ago or longer, but that's a moot point.

The FEMA group is nice to have for emergencies, but it has nothing to do with a citizens watch group. There are no citizen groups in cars, watching the streets, with the purpose of keeping an eye open and a cell phone handy to report strange things to the police department.

There should be. Some areas of Cleveland have them, and have had them for over 15 years. Why don't we? Some other suburbs have them, why don't we?

Many other cities around the country have them, why don't we?

I'm not talking vigilante, I'm not talking Guardian Angels. I'm talking about caring citizens who just want to drive around, walk around, enjoy our city, and if anything strange and apparently "wrong" is seen, a cell phone call to the police department is made.

Many many cities have organizations such as these, and they exist with much success.

So, solutions?

Yes I agree, we should do whatever is needed to get LPD what is needed ASAP. An emergency levy? Fine.
Pro-active citizens caring enough about our city to hang outside for a bit, just enjoying our own city, but keeping a watchful eye, with some paper, pen and cell phone around. Not a catch-all answer but if it stops one problem it's worth it.

There was a time when the criminal element or even just rowdy teens would drive around the city of Lakewood rather than threw it, because they knew they would get stopped for a "safety check" or they knew it was the wrong place to do whatever mayhem they felt like doing at the time.

If you had 4 door sedan with 8 guys packed into it, you can bet you were stopped. If you looked like you didn't "fit", you were scrutinized.

That was the past.

If we ignore what has to be done, then we are doing nothing more than advertising to the criminals, "Come to our city, we won't do any more than we have, we'll just complain after the fact".

It's naive to think the "bad guys" are unaware of where the ripe pickings are.


Mark Allan Crnolatas

[Kenneth Warren]

The mobilization of thug crime is real. I understand there was also a robbery at gunpoint on Hird over the weekend.

How do Lakewood's raw numbers and strategies compare to Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights?

What do the Mayoral candidates have to say about police strategy, manpower and equipment requirements?

Kenneth Warren