CLEVELAND, FEDERAL AGENCIES COMBINE TO RETURN SAFETY TO ROUGH NEIGHBORHOODS

Cleveland's Alliance With An Array Of Federal Agencies Offers Hope
That Rough Neighborhoods Can Enjoy Safety Again

Many Clevelanders will remember 2007 as a year of fear, death and
tragedy; a year in which it felt all too often as if they had lost
their neighborhoods to drug dealers, gunslingers and gangs. Mayor
Frank Jackson wants to make 2008 the year in which law-abiding
Clevelanders take back the streets.

The mayor's plan begins with smart, aggressive law enforcement.
Despite budget problems, he plans to put more police officers on the
streets, to reconstitute a special gang squad and to shake up the
homicide unit. He promises those officers better training and more
sophisticated technology. He has instructed Police Chief Michael
McGrath to concentrate those tools on drugs and guns, an unholy
pairing that kills neighborhoods.

To do so, McGrath and his officers will build on alliances they have
forged with the U.S. attorney's office, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and various probation departments.
In league with U.S. Attorney Greg White, they are also cooperating
with police departments from Toledo to Youngstown to secure federal
money for anti-violence initiatives and to find common threads in
gun- and drug-trafficking.

The ATF and White's prosecutors in particular will help with one of
the city's most important and potentially dangerous plans: a
crackdown on illegal gun possession in high-crime areas.

McGrath envisions almost daily gun-interdiction efforts this year; he
and the mayor concede that these sweeps may well lead to some violent
confrontations. Clearly, such operations must be conducted with great
professionalism, care and respect for the rights and the safety of
law-abiding citizens. But armed criminals have deprived too many good
citizens of their right to lead peaceful, safe lives. McGrath is a
savvy, veteran lawman. If he thinks this approach can uproot the
cancer of gun violence on Cleveland's streets, he and his officers
deserve the chance to try it.

But Cleveland cannot arrest or prosecute away crime. No city can. Law
enforcement can suppress crime for a time, but unless enough people
see productive alternatives to crime, there won't be long-term
change. Those alternatives must include economic opportunities,
effective re-entry programs and social services that fuel hope.

The mayor and his allies know that. An example: Anti-gang efforts in
the St. Clair-Superior area have produced scores of federal
indictments. That's absolutely critical. But now White has enlisted
the Greater Cleveland Partnership to help run a workshop for
neighborhood entrepreneurs, because he knows that's every bit as
important to building a safer community.

Jackson and White are working on other initiatives to combine carrots
and sticks. They're looking for partners among foundations, community
groups and churches. Such multifaceted efforts have worked in other
cities, and they can make a difference here, too.

The past tragic year has produced frequent calls for good people to
"stand up" and change their communities. But well-meaning
exhortations are meaningless without a plan and resources. Credit
Jackson, White, McGrath and others with trying to build a platform on
which those good people can stand.