Governor Mike DeWine (R) announced this week that a new $12.3 million funding package would go to local law enforcement agencies to address violent crime, with Cleveland and Cuyahoga County getting two-thirds of those funds.
Nearly $1 million will go to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office, mainly to hire three new staff attorneys to help the jurisdiction make headway in its backlog of sexual and domestic violence cases. The Cleveland Division of Police, the Cleveland State University Police Department, and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office will meanwhile receive an approximate total of $6.5 million, largely to enhance police officer pay. Euclid’s police department will also get $107,000 for technological improvements.
The state’s disbursement is the ninth out of the Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program, which has awarded $58.3 million to localities so far. Other major recipients this time around include Dayton’s police department, which will get over $4.5 million, mostly to enhance officer pay and expand hiring. Smaller sums will go to Licking County and Newark policing agencies, the Richland County Sheriff’s Office, and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
Funding for the grant program comes from both Ohio’s operations budget and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which the federal government enacted in March 2021.
“Ohio continues to take proactive steps to support our local law enforcement and make sure they have what they need to combat the spike in crime that’s plaguing communities nationwide,” DeWine said in a statement. “With this funding, our police officers, deputies and prosecutors will have more resources to hold offenders accountable for their crimes and prevent additional crime in the future.”
Violent crime in Cuyahoga County has long exceeded the U.S. average. Violence in Cleveland and surrounding areas jumped significantly in 2020 but ebbed in 2021 and decreased further as of August of this year, according to Mayor Justin Bibb (D). The mayor ascribed much of the decrease — including a nearly 7 percent drop in homicides — to an increased presence of police on the streets.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Ohio Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Cleveland Skyline” by Erik Drost. CC BY 2.0.
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