What's being done about summer safety concerns? I-Team asks Cleveland mayor

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CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team is taking hard questions to Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb about your safety.

Mayor Justin Bibb announced last week the city is cracking down on crime.

However, many viewers have contacted us concerned about their safety, noting that last weekend alone there were three homicides.

This month, we have seen a Cleveland police officer murdered, a 10-year-old girl shot and killed and more violence on city streets. 

This comes during Operation Heatwave, a crackdown on crime, illegal guns and even bad drivers. Yet, we have also seen drivers taking over downtown streets, and a crowd terrorizing an RTA bus driver.

So, we went to the mayor trying to get answers and he refused to talk to us.

“There are business owners that are concerned about the safety downtown. Can you talk about that?” I-Team reporter Peggy Gallek asked the mayor. 

The mayor walked away, saying to talk to his communications team.

The I-Team also reviewed some of the latest city crime stats along with claims about the crime rate dropping. Then, we checked court records at the city clerk of courts office. We also checked other records.

Police say since May they have made 577 felony arrests. We filed public records requests with the court and found only 408 felony charges filed by Cleveland police.

We again reached out to the city and a spokesman sent us this statement:

“Following an initial arrest, a case could be temporarily paused pending further investigation (e.g. needing additional medical records, drug lab results, video surveillance, etc.) or – after initial facts are reviewed – they could be determined to be misdemeanors.”

City officials also say police have issued 1,500 traffic tickets. City court records show that the overall number of tickets this year is down.

“You have people waiting hours even days waiting for police,” I-Team reporter Ed Gallek asked the mayor. “How is that acceptable?”

The mayor walked away again without answering.

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Peggy Gallek

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