Plan to reduce crime works, mayor says

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson says a drop in violent crime shows his eight-month-old plan targeting gun crimes is working.

Homicides are down 25 percent this year compared with the same time last year, and overall gun crimes are down 10 percent, city statistics show.

Cleveland had 134 homicides last year, a 13-year high. The city’s crime problem was highlighted by last summer’s traffic death of a suburban woman struck by a stolen car driven by a 13-year-old as she walked with her husband to a performance of “The Lion King” in Cleveland’s theater district.

Another killing, the September 2007 shooting death of a 12-year-old girl caught in sidewalk crossfire, stirred an emotional response in a city already accustomed to frequent gun violence.

Jackson in January responded to the surge in killings by reinstating the city’s anti-gang unit and directing police to aggressively pursue crimes involving gangs, drugs and guns.

The city’s stepped-up efforts included teams of police that target high-crime neighborhoods for a few days each month. Officers have made nearly 900 drug arrests and seized 89 guns during the neighborhood details, records show.