Two Other Robbers Are In Custody

January 2, 2004

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Two home invasion suspects were in custody and another was hospitalized Friday morning following a shooting during their attempted invasion, NewsChannel 4 reported.

The three robbers broke into a woman's house on North Roys Avenue, but police said the woman got a gun and fired at them. A robber who was hit showed up several blocks away on North Wheatland Avenue with injuries.

He was taken to a local hospital.

January 1, 2004
Mansfield News Journal

MANSFIELD -- Seven people were killed in the city in 2003, the highest number since the police department began keeping computerized crime records in 1988.

Last year, the total was six, up from just two in 2001.

The reason for the high number, Mansfield police Chief Phil Messer said, is both straightforward and discouraging.

"Unfortunately, it's been a particularly violent year. Not just in Mansfield, but in most of the state. The number is not out of line with what we're seeing in Columbus, which will break 100 (murders) this year," he said.

No one has been arrested for any of the murders.

"It's unusual to go this long without bringing some of the cases to the grand jury," Messer said.

Part of the reason has to do with the investigative techniques the department is focusing on.

"We're gathering a lot of forensic evidence, and with violent crime up in so much of Ohio, the (forensic) labs are extremely back-logged. Sometimes they're just overwhelmed," Messer said.

The city's continuing budget problems also have contributed, with the police department still short on officers and support personnel, Messer said.

Assistant Chief Jim Boyer said there was no single tactic the department could adopt to reduce the number of murders in 2004.

"Unless you have a police officer in every house and on every corner, that's a crime that's hard to prevent," he said.

Click here to read the entire story in the Mansfield News Journal.

01/01/04
Cleveland Plain Dealer

(edited for space- click here to read the entire story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Mayor Jane Campbell will cut $21 million from the 2004 police budget, mostly by eliminating 263 positions. Five of the officers, however, are being transferred to jobs in other departments, and six others were due to retire.

The layoffs, which take effect Monday, will leave the Police Department with about 1,560 officers.

Cleveland police union members soundly rejected a deal to sacrifice benefits and save jobs.

Bob Beck, president of the police union, said members refused to accept the concessions because they feel they were being asked to bear the brunt of closing the city's $61 million general fund deficit.

"We will not have the blame deflected on us for the mayor's mismanagement," Beck said.

"They spend money from the general fund like they have $1 million in the checking account when they only have $500,000."

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