Cleveland Police Chief Says Officers ‘Actively Investigating’ Recent Rash of Car Break-Ins – Cleveland Scene

Car windows are breaking in Ohio City, Tremont and elsewhere once again.

Over the past week or so, a string of car break-ins—more smash than grab, police said—has plagued the city, including in Tremont, Ohio City, and University Circle. Videos shared by residents show suspects piling out of cars and quickly bashing in windows en masse.

Once again, those residents are calling on city officials with the question posed ad nauseum: What are you doing about this?

“Let us be clear: addressing this issue is not as simple as a quick fix,” Police Chief Dorothy Todd wrote in a letter to the public on Wednesday.

“While some may feel that not enough is being done, please know that our officers, detectives, and command staff are actively investigating these cases and working diligently to identify those responsible,” she said. “It’s not a matter of if arrests will be made, but when.”

But for those who woke up Monday morning to a hole where their driver’s side window used to be, Todd’s message of reassurance didn’t quite cut it. Facebook community groups are littered with complaints. Why aren’t there more visible patrols? Given the lack of public visibility, should residents form community watch walks?

A police spokesperson told Scene this week’s string “predominantly” resulted in broken glass and not valuables stolen. But broken windows are expensive, and annoying, to fix. And the lasting feeling of insecurity—that my block isn’t safe—is a clear threat to quality of life.

“I don’t care what kind of press releases or smoke and mirrors marketing spins that the Cleveland Police Department puts out there or how much they are telling the news stations about their patrolling efforts,” one resident in Ohio City wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. 

“This is a MAJOR issue in this neighborhood,” she added, and urged visitors: “DO NOT leave anything in your vehicles and either Uber or take the Red Line in, if you can.”

Brittany Kraus, another resident of Ohio City, told Scene she’s had her car windows smashed twice this year. She suspects the culprits are teenagers on a late-night destruction spree.

But she’s adapted since: she keeps nothing but her phone charger in her car. She even started waking up early in the morning to do a spot check, yet stopped out of a sense of distress.

“All around it’s just a headache, time and resources that I’ll never get back,” she wrote.

Cleveland police are somewhat limited when it comes to catching and arresting those suspected of vandalism or breaking and entering. Ring cameras struggle to catch legible license plate numbers at night, as do the city’s 100 license plate readers fixed on poles. (Though most are trained to catch licenses attached to active cases.)

And police chase policy, cemented by the city’s Consent Decree, forbids cops from chasing suspects at high speeds for vandalism charges alone.

“Criminals know that! So they immediately take off,” Ward 3 Councilman Kerry McCormack told Scene. “They know if I drive away recklessly, they won’t chase me—so that’s what they do.”

After a policy review by the Community Police Commission this summer, police resumed using drones, though only in high-risk scenarios: missing person searches, serving search warrants or navigating disasters.

McCormack believes that they could be used to help curb break-ins in lieu of chase policy, usage that could help arrest suspects without the risk of a dangerous car chase across the city.

“I haven’t seen it at this level in a very long time.” he said. “What’s left out of this conversation is my residents who deserve a safe place to live. Where is their peace? Where are their rights?”

Cleveland police told Scene they’re looking over video footage and interviewing witnesses. No arrests have been made as of Thursday afternoon.

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