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YPD exceeds US average for solving homicides
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
City police homicide investigators point to teamwork as the reason the department was able to solve well over the national percentage of homicides in 2015.
Of the 22 homicides in the city, 17 have been solved, a rate of 77 percent, which is above the FBI national average of 64.1 percent.
However, the death of a 2-month-old baby Dec. 29 of injuries suffered Dec. 15 is expected to be ruled a homicide, giving the city 23 for 2015. The baby’s father was arrested on a charge of felonious assault before the baby died, and the charge is expected to be upgraded.
Capt. Brad Blackburn, chief of detectives, and his second-in-command, Lt. Doug Bobovnyik, both stressed that it is the work of all divisions of the department, from the first patrol officers who answer a call to the crime-scene officers who collect evidence to U.S. marshals who hunt for suspects that help detectives solve their cases.
Blackburn said about 90 percent of the city’s homicides this year are ones in which the victim and suspect had some sort of relationship. Bobovnyik said of the homicides this year, not many were what he termed “street crimes,” or random violence claiming victims.
In 2014, Youngstown recorded 19 homicides. In 2015, one death that was being investigated as a homicide, where a man’s body was found in a burning car on Otis Street in November, is no longer being classified as a homicide.
The keys this year to solving homicides are more cooperation from the public as well as the collection and preservation of physical evidence.
It is in that latter category that the patrol division comes in, Blackburn said. From the time patrol officers answer a call for a homicide, they keep the crime scene closed to outsiders, find witnesses and separate them for investigators to interview. That speaks to the training of both the officers and their supervisors, Blackburn said.
Where marshals come in is when a suspect is identified but not in custody; they are usually able to find the suspects through their street contacts and nationwide contacts as well, Blackburn said. Getting a suspect in jail quickly leads to better cooperation from the public because they are less fearful of retaliation when a suspect is already in jail.
“If that person isn’t on the street, that person is less likely to intimidate a witness,” Blackburn said.
Securing a crime scene and keeping it secure also helps members of the crime lab in collecting evidence. Bobovnyik said physical evidence is crucial.
“Forensic evidence is always better because it doesn’t lie and is more reliable,” Bobovnyik said.
One thing the detective bureau will focus on in this year is training for new detectives, because at least two detectives with years of experience are expected to retire. Police Chief Robin Lees said the bureau will be developing other detectives who have shown the skill needed to work homicide cases.
“It’s always a concern when you lose skilled employees, but we’ll develop those officers who show potential,” Lees said. “We know what has been successful in the past in training and exposure.”
Lees said one of the ways new detectives will be trained is they will be paired with more-experienced detectives when working homicides.
Lees also said the department’s rate at solving homicides this year is attributed to teamwork at all levels of the department and the skill set of the detectives as well.
Blackburn said those detectives put in long hours, often responding to a call late in the night or early in the morning and working several hours straight with little or no sleep until the thread of the case they are working on runs cold. He said they also put in long hours typing up warrant applications and interviewing witnesses.
“It’s hours and hours of work from the lead detective that really gets it done,” Blackburn said.