CLEVELAND — Cleveland launched its summer safety plan with a focus on crime reduction four months ago -- and now Mayor Justin Bibb has revealed the results.
“One homicide is too many," Mayor Bibb said while also referencing the deadly shooting of a teen that happened overnight.
He said the results are not a mission-accomplished moment for the city, but "a data-drive, fact-based update" on the work that's being down.
"As I’ve often said, reducing violent crime and keeping our city safe and secure is a group project," Mayor Bibb said. "Government can’t do it alone. We have a lot more work to do, but today is a positive milestone in terms of the work we’ve been doing to reduce violent crime in our fair city.”
You can watch the full press conference in the video below:
OPERATION HEATWAVE
Dubbed "Operation Heatwave," the summer safety plan focused on five city-wide hotspots.
“We prioritized a targeted data-driven approach to not only deploy aggressive police response and resources, but also ensuring that almost every department inside of City Hall was deployed as well, too," Mayor Bibb said.
Deputy Chief of Police Ali Pillow outlined the following results of the operation, which ran from May 1 through Aug. 31:
- Approximately 30% reduction in homicides.
- Felonious assaults down 13%.
- Robbery and rape up 4%.
- Total violent crime: Down 13%.
“We need to take a look at what worked, what didn’t work and what we can improve upon," Pillow said.
The city also addressed a variety of complaints ranging from illegal dumping sites to graffiti removal and dead animal pickup. It was noted that 363 street lights were also fixed during the operation's timeframe.
WHAT'S NEXT
Mayor Bibb said the work is not yet complete.
"We have a lot more work to do," he said. "To not only address violent crime and get the numbers down even more, but really address the perception of safety in our city.”
Earlier this month, 3News’ Peter Fleischer reported that the city saw a drop in total crime.
“Across the summer of 2024, there were 29,105 total crimes,” according to Fleischer’s report on Sept. 5. “That number represents a reduction of more than 10% when compared to 32,498 in 2023.”