Zero-tolerance policy appears effective

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Zero-tolerance policy appears effective
Story by JOE GORMAN, Tribune Chronicle on 3/5/2007.

YOUNGSTOWN — In 27 years as a cop, Detective Sgt. Jose Morales has never seen city police flex their muscles like they have for the last month.

It's what one block watch leader said she has been waiting for for 10 years.

After Mayor Jay Williams ordered a 30-day zero tolerance in the wake of a quadruple homicide on the South Side Jan. 29 and the department doubled the number of officers on the road with extra saturation patrols, Morales said during one of those patrols last week on the South Side he had no idea of the ripple effects of the patrols.

''I never thought it would be of this magnitude,'' Morales said as he cruised up Market Street. ''To me, it's working.''

Officers have been instructed to make traffic stops for the slightest infraction, such as failure to signal or a cracked windshield. One of the most common offenses they find are people who are driving under suspended licenses.

Morales said one of the ways he knows the patrols are working is the absence of ''thug-like'' criminals on the streets. He said they know it will be hard to operate with extra police all around. He said he does not even notice them when he drives an unmarked car. He said the extra patrols are forcing the criminals to react rather than vice versa.

''It's like they're picking their times to come out,'' Morales said. ''They're reacting now. They're really kind of watching when they're out there.''

Katrina Love, head of the Kenmore-Fosterville Block Watch — where a suspected drug house was boarded up last week — said she and members of her block watch pleading for extra officers for the last 10 years. Now there almost always is an available officer to answer a call.

''Now we don't have those issues with response time because they're here,'' Love said.

She said it has been quieter in her neighborhood, and she has noticed a change in traffic patterns. Her members cannot believe how many extra police have been out, Love said.

''They're in shock,'' Love said.

The patrols are expected to be continued in some way throughout the year, but the 30-day period of doubling street officers is just about over. Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said he is looking at different staffing and financial formulas to keep extra officers on the road for as long as possible, and he did not rule out a return to the same type of patrols on the road now later this year.

The department has been using overtime to try to double the number of beat officers per shift, which usually varies from 15 to 20. The Ohio State Highway Patrol also is helping out by performing traffic enforcement duties as part of a program to crack down on fatal accidents in urban areas on state and U.S. routes in the city, which often bisect trouble spots. That frees up city officers from traffic details and allows them to focus more resources on the city's neighborhoods.

The Mahoning County Sheriff's Office is adding a cruiser or two to help patrol as well. Deputies are being compensated with time off.

Morales went through a four-hour patrol where at times there were so many police cars on the road — including the state patrol — they seemed to outnumber civilians. Morales said one of the best benefits of the added patrols is that officers who are not tied to a specific beat can be more aggressive, and they know when they make a stop, there is more than enough backup.

''You're doing a lot more proactive work, and as soon as you get a call or a stop, your backup is already there,'' Morales said.

At one point during his patrol, troopers and city officers flooded a South Side neighborhood looking for a pair of men who ran from a patrol traffic stop. In front of a Southern Boulevard Plaza, shoppers and onlookers looked on in awe as nine police cars in a row looked for the men. They escaped, but an patrol police dog found a gun in the car.

Later, city police answering a burglary call at Wabash and Myrtle avenues clogged up traffic as at least seven cars responded. Residents in their yards did double-takes at the spectacle.

Girard police Chief Frank Bigowsky, who is an instructor at several police academies, said traffic enforcement programs are one of the best tools police departments can use to cut down on crime because it increases the visibility of officers and acts as a deterrent. He said traffic stops have led to the arrest of such nationally known criminals as Timothy McVeigh and Ted Bundy.

He said the Mahoning Valley Chiefs of Police Association met recently and may try to run programs to coincide with blitzes in Youngstown ''to catch the runoff,'' he said.

Hughes said there will be other efforts this year with other law enforcement agencies and the state patrol is expected to return to the city again sometime this year, a spokesman said Friday.

Morales said the people have been positive, even those he has ticketed. And the tickets appear to be working because he said drivers are making sure they are legal. He said a couple of months ago, probably three of every five drivers pulled over had a suspended license. Now cars have front license plates — some are even tied on with wire — and drivers are using their turn signals and stopping at stop signs, he said.

Hughes said the department still is compiling some statistics, but he said it appears the number of reported crimes has declined, although the city has four more homicides now than it did at this time last year.

Morales said he was worried about what will happen when the patrols stop, a concern that Hughes said he has as well. Love said that also worried her.

''The longer you don't do it, I think they'll come back again,'' Morales said.

Love said she hopes the city keeps its word to keep an increased presence, but she said she wishes she could stretch out the first 30 days for 12 months.

''I would appreciate it if they could do it all year,'' Love said.



jgorman@tribune-chronicle.com


Photo Credit: Tribune Chronicle / Joe Gorman

Youngstown police Detective Sgt. Jose Morales, right, and Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Dan Keller, pause last week in front of a Southern Boulevard plaza while looking for a pair of men who ran from a state patrol traffic stop on the South Side.