Violent crime is dropping nine months after Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson unveiled a tough-sounding plan to aggressively go after gun-toting guys roaming the city’s neighborhoods, reports the city’s Plain Dealer. Homicides are down 25 percent this year compared with last, and overall gun crimes are down 10 percent. Homicides reached a 13-year high last year, with 134 people killed in Cleveland.
Jackson responded in January with a plan targeting gun crimes that he warned could lead to more violent confrontations between police and citizens. With summer — traditionally the most violent season of the year — winding down, the plan seems to be working, Jackson said. Officers have seized 723 guns, an increase of more than 10 percent. But Steve Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, said crime and murder rates always fluctuate over a few years, and he rejected Jackson taking credit. The drop in crimeis “the luck of the draw,” he said.
Link: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/12200853725750.xml&coll=2