The Observation Deck

From City Hall today (8/17/15) just before 1:00 p.m.:

The Lakewood Police Department would like residents to be aware of recent thefts of motor vehicles. During the past week, Lakewood has had five Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth Mini Vans stolen from streets. Most of the thefts were on the East End and occurred in the early morning hours. The vehicles are generally over 10 years old; these vans are still easy for thieves to steal due to an ignition system that can easily be compromised. On Sunday, August 16, we recovered two of the stolen vans and made three arrests — two juveniles and one adult, all from Cleveland. Please be vigilant about securing your vehicles and reporting suspicious activity. One resident reporting some suspicious activity was directly responsible for the Lakewood Police Department being able to respond to a crime in progress and making the arrests. Please use 911 if you see any suspicious activity.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/City-of-Lakewood-Ohio-Municipal-Government/176605282230

The rising level of criminal activity in Lakewood will be the sleeper issue in the Mayoral campaign. At one recent City Council meeting residents from Ward three detailed their concerns about the criminal activity on their street.

Bill Call wrote:The rising level of criminal activity in Lakewood will be the sleeper issue in the Mayoral campaign. At one recent City Council meeting residents from Ward three detailed their concerns about the criminal activity on their street.

Bill,

As with all things in the Summers Administration (e.g., Team Summer's "Decanting Plan" at http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2015/08/04/court-filing-and-documents-reveal-2012-cleveland-clinic-plan-to), City Hall has done a great job keeping the increase in crime off the public's radar.

Make no mistake, no city can match the quality of our LPD!

But what is the Summers administration doing to ensure that our LPD has all the necessary tools at its disposal to "preserve the peace, protect life and property, prevent crimes, apprehend criminals, recover lost and stolen property, and enforce, in a fair and impartial manner, the ordinances of the City of Lakewood and the laws of the State of Ohio and the United States of America?"

And what is our Law Department doing to ensure that all criminal cases are presented to the Court in a manner that allows for the proper prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of the guilty?

Matt

Matt & Bill,

I have covered nearly all of Ward 3 now by foot and have talked to many residents. Many of them themselves are victims of crime (garages broken into, car theft, stolen bicycles, homes burglarized, and hit-skip accidents).

I believe we need more police out on the streets, particularly at night if the city is not going to crack down on nuisance properties. Coming from a family of law enforcement, what bothers me about this administration is that they don't appear to always back up our police. I can't understand why when our police are assaulted, the charges are often dismissed in Lakewood court.

It does appear that the majority of these car thefts are being committed by juveniles (seventeen and under). In some cases, they are caught in the act but are released to their parents. A gentleman on Cedarwood had his car hit-skipped on the street a few weeks ago. He told me that he was told that nothing could be done because the suspect was a juvenile and that he would have to speak with the juvenile's mother to get restitution.

I don't feel that it is the decision of the police to not make an arrest. I believe that it probably comes from the higher-ups.

Maybe someone else could give a better explanation of why this is happening. Maybe there a reason, but I would like to know.

Any chance we can get some actual statistics instead of anecdotes? I'm in Ward 4 and haven't had so much as a lawn ornament tipped over in 17 years (knock on wood), but that doesn't mean there are not problems elsewhere. If it's true let's discuss, but these things tend to take on a life of their own.

Paul Schrimpf wrote:Any chance we can get some actual statistics instead of anecdotes? I'm in Ward 4 and haven't had so much as a lawn ornament tipped over in 17 years (knock on wood), but that doesn't mean there are not problems elsewhere. If it's true let's discuss, but these things tend to take on a life of their own.

Paul brings up a good point.

Every year (especially election years) we hear some sort of sky-is-falling rhetoric on crime.

Ironically, it was "Team Fitzy" that mastered the art in 2007...they rode the crime issue to power, and now look where we are.
As an extra fun bonus, the moderator of the "Crimewood" web site is now a City Hall employee...if you ask him, I bet he'd say that everything's just fine now.

Michael Deneen wrote:

Paul Schrimpf wrote:Any chance we can get some actual statistics instead of anecdotes? I'm in Ward 4 and haven't had so much as a lawn ornament tipped over in 17 years (knock on wood), but that doesn't mean there are not problems elsewhere. If it's true let's discuss, but these things tend to take on a life of their own.

Paul brings up a good point.

Every year (especially election years) we hear some sort of sky-is-falling rhetoric on crime.

Ironically, it was "Team Fitzy" that mastered the art in 2007...they rode the crime issue to power, and now look where we are.
As an extra fun bonus, the moderator of the "Crimewood" web site is now a City Hall employee...if you ask him, I bet he'd say that everything's just fine now.

Paul and Mike

I cannot be so cavalier in this, and as Mike Summers Administration loves to hold back
statistics and facts, let's not forget ten days to tell us about a serial rapist working the
westside. It was not until a second rape just outside our border did the mayor think of
saying anything.

This came from Sunday night where Lakewood Police chased and caught members of s
car theft ring that had at least 4 stolen vans as they were chased in the early morning
hours between 3:30 and 5am.

I will not get caught up in the rhetoric with this, but to say, Lock your cars, and your house
this is common sense. While it is tough to be involved in a violent crime, and the odds even
smaller for a violent crime for someone you do not know. Theft is easy.

As for facts, I do not see any facts coming from a mayor about crime coming from any
administration in an election year unless they are amazingly good.

.