7 of Ohio's largest police departments discuss ways to combat violent crime

LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Seven of the largest police departments in northern Ohio caucused in Lakewood on Thursday about ways to employ better intelligence-gathering in the war on violent crime.

All belong to the Northern Ohio Violent Crime Consortium, started by the local U.S. attorney's office five years ago.

It began then to combat gun crimes. The new wrinkle is an intelligence-led policing program, which the University of Akron and Kent State University are helping to facilitate.

The departments are from Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Elyria, Lorain, Mansfield, Toledo and Youngstown, with support from the U.S. Department of Justice and various state federal agencies.

Elsie Day, a consultant for the program, said that before it began last month, some of the departments had no crime-analysis abilities. Now all have some.

U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach said in a telephone interview that the intelligence program began because "law enforcement executives wanted to be more data-driven in how they deployed their resources so it is not just the gut feeling of the desk sergeant about what blocks need to be patrolled.

"Law enforcement has always been good at gathering information but less good at using it," he said.

Each department is supposed to identify priorities and craft an implementation program by Dec. 21.