GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine was in Garfield Heights on Tuesday for a look at how his administration’s crime reduction initiatives are working in the field.
Specifically, DeWine was given an update on how the Garfield Heights Police Department is utilizing the funds it received from the Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program, which the governor created with the Ohio General Assembly in 2021. The program is designed to give local law enforcement across the state additional tools to help prevent and investigate incidents of violent crime in their communities.
"You used it very well," DeWine told officers.
In August of 2022, the Garfield Heights Police Department received over $1.3 million for advanced crime analysis and new technology to help identify repeat offenders and hotspots for crime.
"With that, we started our targeted enforcement unit, which is a task force specifically there to address violent crime in Garfield Heights," Police Chief Mark Kaye told the governor.
The grant also allowed the department to provide retention bonuses for all dispatchers and officers, purchase Flock cameras and update city surveillance cameras, enhance the department's drone program, and access a virtual crime center.
DeWine was clearly impressed by Garfield's police data, which shows its targeted enforcement unit curbed violent crime by 33% over the 15 months since its establishment.
"That's significant, that's very significant," he said. "What you're doing in targeting them just makes sense."
The targeted enforcement unit also played a role in arresting three suspects soon after a father and 6-month-old baby were shot in September. Now, DeWine and Ohio Director of Public Safety Andy Wilson are speaking highly of Garfield Heights' police department.
"Really, what you're seeing here is the blueprint for modern policing," Wilson said.
"You know what works, you know how it works, you know what doesn't work," DeWine added. "To take that information and replicate it for Lima or Mansfield or Springfield just makes so much sense."
So far, DeWine has awarded approximately $80 million to 170 Ohio law enforcement agencies as part of this program.
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