2006 NPD Annual Report: Lt. Cain's letter re 1st Shift

Dear Chief Schlie:

The 1st Relief of the Norwood Police Department, aside from normal patrol duties, handles most of the miscellaneous errands within the department. Vehicle maintenance, for the most part, is coordinated with the Public Works garage by 1st Relief. We also keep electronic equipment in repair through Camp Safety Equipment Company and Moibilcomm. Evidence from most cases, which requires transport to the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office or the Cincinnati Health Department for processing, is also done by 1st Relief…

Parking complaints other than hazards, such as blocked hydrants, blocked driveways, cars blocking traffic of violations on the expressway are held for 1st Relief. These complaints mostly involve abandoned vehicles left on the streets, which are chalked and then tagged after one day, generally after two more days, the vehicle is impounded. Most of the impoundments originate from either complaints from citizens or officer-initiated investigations and result in the removal of many junk cars from our City streets, and thus reduce the amount of eyesores in our community.

The 1st Relief also assists the Norwood Mayor’s court in security when detail officers are not available. We also retrieve prisoners from other jurisdictions and locations such as the Hamilton County Justice Center for hearings in our Court. We also transport prisoners to the Justice Center and our Criminal Investigation Section as required.

…We are, as are almost all communities, seeing more and more counterfeit money. A majority of it passes at stores where customers are in line and hurried. It is a crime in which we all lose. A bit more precaution at the cash register could drastically reduce the traffic of counterfeit money If you suspect a bill is bogus, call the police.

…We are still experiencing a large amount of daytime curfew and skipping school violations, resulting in the transport of students to school, a cititation, or physical arrest and transport to Juvenile Detention…

We continue to experience a great many complaints about dogs running loose, which we handle with the SPCA, which impounds the dogs upon capture. Unfortunately, on too many occasions some of these dogs have been vicious, and incidents have resulted in injuries to people and other animals.

1st Relief continues to handle a great many Child Endangering cases, mostly involving unattended children, in which we work with the Hamilton county Children’s Protection Services (241-KIDS).

EDP’s (Emotionally Disturbed Persons) are frequently encountered and require a level of expertise in handling. Norwood has a large amount of group homes that house these people, and a large percentage of them do not have employment, so they have lots of free time. Most of the complaints on these individuals come from them spending hours in a business or engaging in bizarre but not necessarily illegal or dangerous behavior. Often these individuals are taken to the hospital to be checked or evaluated after displaying behavior resulting in a complaint.

Identity Theft continues to be a serious problem with reports being made more frequently by victims who suddenly receive a large bill for purchases they did not make. People need to guard their sales slips, deal only with reputable businesses, and shred any financial papers before discarding.

We are seeing a lot of cars stolen not only because of the keys being left in them, but also because they are left running. The owners often seem in disbelief that this could happen because, “I only went inside for a minute.”

In 2006, we held on to our own equipment and saw five new cars equipped and put on the road. They now have about 20,000 miles on them, and despite an aggressive service program and maintenance schedule, are having more problems a year later. We have lost all of our old white cruisers as none were fit for road patrol any longer. We hope to get five new vehicles in 2007 to replace our older cars...