Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb

CLEVELAND, Ohio - In the wake of heightened city crime, including the escalating murders of Black women, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb released part of his plan Thursday on how city officials intend to fight increasing crime in the city and enhance a police department that is understaffed as the city's police shortage continues

The mayor's new plan comes days after community activists, led by the group's Imperial Women Coalition and Black on Black Crime Inc., held a stop-the-violence-rally and called for Black leaders to stop grandstanding and to do something about the problem of Black women getting murdered in droves.

The city of Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice remain parties to a court -monitored consent decree for police reforms that was implemented in 2015 behind an array of excessive force killings of Blacks by police, including 12-year-old Tamir Rice.

The mayor's anti-crime plan is called " The Raising Investment in Safety for Everyone (RISE)."

A Democrat and a strong and ambitious mayor, Bibb, 36, is the city's fourth Black mayor. He took office in 2022 after coming in first in a crowded non-partisan primary and then winning the two-way general election by more than 60 percent of the vote, a mandate by some standards. Cleveland is a largely Black major american city of some 372,000 people, according to the latest U.S. Census report, and it is stepped in poverty.

“The level of violence we are seeing in our city requires seismic investments and an all-hands-on-deck approach,” said Mayor Bibb in a press release on Thursday. "“We are engaging everyone — police, fire, EMS, building and housing, community relations, residents, nonprofit partners and businesses — to confront this issue. We all have a role in keeping Cleveland safe and everyone must send the message that we will not tolerate violence.”

Some of the highlights of the mayor's plan are as follows:

-Finalizing a contract with a local marketing consultant to develop a campaign to hire and retain police officers

-Partnering with Cuyahoga County and launching a pilot program that focuses on the court response to carjackings and car thefts

-Extending the city’s violence reduction task force to hot spots in the city and shutting down problematic locations and streets with the Building and Housing Department, Public Heath Department, and Fire Department

-Working with the FBI and the U.S. Marshals to expand warrant sweeps and gun intelligence efforts=Working with the U.S. Attorney to support fast-tracking of gun-related case and with the RTA and CMHA to expand curfew enforcement

-Working with with the Ohio State Highway Patrol to ramp up traffic enforcement

-Hiring five additional crime analysts, one for each police district;, and

-Expanding ShotSpotter into all five community police districts;,

-Strengthening relationships with inner-ring suburban mayors and police chiefs

Bibb said that the city’s first ever Public Safety Summit will be held on Aug. 23 with activists, city and community leaders, and representatives from the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association (CPPA), and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).

“As mayor, safety is my number one priority and I am deeply grateful to our first-responders, to our police union leadership for their engagement, and to the community leaders out in the neighborhoods working to make Cleveland a better place,” said Mayor Bibb. “Everyone deserves to feel safe no matter what neighborhood they live in, which is why we need to unite, stand up, and push back against this violence. That’s what RISE is all about.”

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.