CLEVELAND -- More than four months after closing the former 3rd District headquarters and redrawing neighborhood police zones, the redeployment plan is working, city officials say.
Crime rates and police response time are down this year compared to last, Safety Director Martin Flask said. The city recently completed a 90-day review after it eliminated one of its six police districts.
"We've found successes and challenges," he said. "We're pleased with the results."
The former 3rd District headquarters on Payne Avenue was closed May 5th. The building now houses specialized units, like the traffic unit, and the city's dispatch center.
Although the 3rd District closing became the focal point of the plan in the community, Flask said complaints from residents and other city officials have been minimal since neighborhood and patrol zones were reconfigured and more one-officer cars were put on the street.
With more police cars on the streets, response times to the highest-priority calls are down about 20 seconds, to about eight minutes, city officials said.
Critics also predicted a mass exodus of police officers from the department after the district closed, but that has not occurred, Flask said. The department has created a staffing plan through 2012 by adding about 150 officers in the past two years and scheduling additional classes for the police academy, he said.
City Councilman Anthony Brancatelli led community protests earlier this year against the redeployment plan because the city split up the North Broadway and South Broadway neighborhoods that make up Slavic Village.
Before the change, Slavic Village was patrolled by officers in the 3rd District. The area was split in half and is now policed by officers from two districts.
Brancatelli said he is pleased so far with the results. Residents have told Mayor Frank Jackson and police officials at community meetings that more police appear to be on the street and are responding faster to serious incidents.
"We look forward to continuing to see the same results," the councilman said.
Capt. Walter May, president for the local Fraternal Order of Police, which represents police supervisors, said the plan may be working in some neighborhoods, but criminals are moving to the outer rims of the city. May lives in the Collinwood area, where crime is increasing, he said.
Steve Loomis, head of the patrolmen's union, did not return a call.
Flask said residents will be able to file police reports before the end of the year on the city's Web site for low-level crimes. The move would allow officers to focus on more-serious incidents instead of spending time taking reports, he said.