Starting this summer Lakewood residents should see more police officers on the streets and in the parks thanks to a public safety initiative Mayor Edward FitzGerald and Police Chief Timothy Malley unveiled during a public meeting on April 23.

The comprehensive plan, which will be rolled out over this year and next, places a premium on officer visibility and neighborhood involvement, with a particular emphasis on block watches. “We wanted a strategy that could have an everyday impact on people’s lives,” Mayor FitzGerald told a crowd of about 60.

The higher visibility and community input will start with the hiring of four full-time officers who will serve as neighborhood police officers in each of the city’s four wards. The police chief expects those officers “to be the face for policing in their neighborhood.”

The ward officer’s cell phone number will be prominently displayed in the ward and he or she will spend a significant amount of time on bike or foot patrols getting to know the ward and identifying problem houses and residents in each ward. Ward 4 on the eastern end of the city will be the first neighborhood office up and running when it opens its doors at Fedor Manor, 12400 Madison, in early June. Officer Mike Fritsch is assigned to the ward.

Patrol offices in wards 1, 2 and 3 will be operational in 2009. Veteran officers Rick Busi, Angie Ortiz and Kevin Fischer will be assigned to those respective wards.

“I see this as a way to become more proactive and communicate better (with residents) … to improve life in Lakewood,” Ward 1 resident Busi said of his new assignment.

The beefed up police presence will also come with the addition of 8-10 part-time officers whose primary assignment will be patrolling the city’s parks, whose deteriorating condition and sense of safety has been of great concern to many residents. Video surveillance now employed at Madison Park will be expanded to Lakewood Park as well.

The part-time hires will also help relieve full-time officers of administrative duties so that they can spend more time on patrol. The department hopes to have some of these new officers hired by the end of the year with the remainder in place by early ’09, Chief Malley said.

The cost of hiring these new officers comes directly from the city’s general fund. Overall, the program will cost $550,000 annually to operate, according to Chief Malley in a recent Plain Dealer report. Many of the remainder of the police visibility components will be paid for by a variety of governmental and law enforcement agencies in the form of grants and other programs. “(We knew) we needed to reach outside the community to get help in implementing the new strategy,” Mayor FitzGerald said.

Included among the programs that are funded primarily by outside entities are:

· A special assignment car paid by a combination of funds from the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s Justice Assistant Grant Program and the Law Enforcement Trust Fund, which disburses assets from confiscated funds and merchandise of criminals. The car, which began its patrols April 16, will cruise the parks in warmer months from 5-9 p.m.

· A patrol car funded by the Ohio Homeland Security Northern Border Initiative will allow an officer to patrol areas such as Lakewood Park, Scenic Park, the tracks, the MetroParks and wastewater treatment plant and utility substations.

· A zip code blitz, where the police department in cooperation with the U.S. Marshal’s Violent Fugitive Task Force identifies and arrests Lakewood residents with outstanding felony charges. The first blitz was conducted on April 16 and resulted in 11 arrests.

· A West End bar patrol where off-duty officers will be hired by a consortium of West End business owners to be a visible presence in that popular nightspot area that has been a constant source of complaints by nearby residents. Nine bar owners so far have signed on to the initiative.

Beyond feet on the ground, the police department also is planning a number of moves that focus on improving communication between the city and its residents. Chief Malley outlined department web site improvements that would allow users to access reports, file reports, look at city crime statistics and serve as a clearinghouse for block watch information. Also in the works is a reverse 911 system that can notify the entire city or a specific neighborhood via phone, email or text message.

Behind the scenes, an improved computer-aided dispatch and records management system will improve the speed of communication between dispatch and patrol cars. It will also allow the department to integrate state and federal databases so that officers on the street have all the information available to do their job.

Mayor FitzGerald and Chief Malley both stressed the importance of residents’ involvement in the new strategy. “It has to have a citizen component if it’s going to work,” Mayor FitzGerald said.

To that end, the existing neighborhood block watch program will take on more prominence. “We want to get as many of those going as possible,” Chief Malley said. Currently, 50 watches are officially signed up with the city. The new neighborhood patrol officer will be the department liaison for each ward’s block watch groups.

Carol Mason, co-captain with Mara Manke of the Lakeland Avenue (between Hilliard and Detroit) block watch group, said she and her neighbors have noticed a “significant difference” since starting their group a year-and-a-half ago. “It’s safer, cleaner and more fun,” she said.

Youth prevention programs will also be emphasized. The police department is applying for 2009 funding for the Gang Resistance Education and Training program administered by the U.S. Marshal’s offices and the Dept. of Justice. The program would be a complement to the D.A.R.E. program that has been so well-received in Lakewood. And next month, meetings will begin on a new Youth Safety Initiative. The plan is to bring partners such as the police, the city’s Youth Services department, the Lakewood City Schools and the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court together to develop a comprehensive response to juvenile intervention.

City council members had a chance to comment on the new plan after its presentation. All thanked the chief and mayor for “grabbing the bull by the horns” as council president Mike Dever said, and tackling these very tough issues. All agreed that the initiative will allow them to do a better job of responding to constituents’ concerns. With a neighborhood patrol officer in each ward, council members will now have a point person to whom they can refer residents.

Mayor FitzGerald candidly told the audience that the initiative “will not be a solution to all (our crime) problems … but it gives a signal to the community that we’re aggressively trying to take on the challenges.”

The mayor also told the audience to stay tuned for the next major initiative he’s preparing to roll out: a neighborhood-based housing strategy for the city he hopes to have ready this summer.