The Blue Flu in Cleveland..... 2011

So, the police are too busy to handle all their calls and overwhelmed to degrees of questionability.....What do we do as citizens? Is this a good or bad thing with a population decline, too many quotas of low income citizens that cannot afford to sustain all that traffic court business or is it just the "Blue Flu" saying haha to the people? From what I am hearing from several cops....it's getting ugly out here.... Pretty scary if you ask me.

One cop flat out said that the "Blue flu was created by City Hall and the budget crunch. LOL. They refused to staff the car plan to a safe level to avoid overtime." 

How bad is this problem in Cleveland ending in 2011 and what do we have to look forward to as the holidays come in the near future? Houses continue to be robbed for their copper plumbing and anything valuable with rare incidents of recovery. Prayerfully homeowner's have been able to sustain their homeowner's insurance. Rumors have it that criminals are climbing in to homes while people are both living and sleeping in the homes; taking their copper pipes and moving to their next house.

It is scary living in Cleveland during this period of economic downturn. I have heard about people having their social security checks stolen out of mailboxes, about long waits for the police, and then I see the traffic cops busier than ever.

Recently, I went to a suburb to drop off a person that had left their work vehicle at a job site. As we pulled into the job site which was in a residential neighborhood, the lady next door had her head out the window upstairs and began immediately scoping out our activity and asking questions. She was an alert neighbor with a call to duty from the homeowner to "watch out for things" in their absence. She was rearing to call the police and I was so proud of her diligence, attention to detail, and amazing proactiveness that I applauded her and complimented her! I was so happy to see a citizen taking pride in their community and partaking in community policing. She and I talked for a few minutes and soon I left. By the time I made it to the street; the police were on the street double checking that everything was good. That was a dream community.... Something Clevelander's will rarely be able to enjoy in consideration of the factors that have reduced our forces at all levels.

For the police and public servants who have been layed off due to the "cutbacks".... I feel bad for you that the administration of our community was living far outside of its budget for all too long. Everyone is paying the price for such abuses of the system. Sadly, you are victims as much as the citizens in this situation. Prayerfully, thousands more of out of town people will move to our city and pay taxes that will support affording a police force that can protect us all. For now, it's getting highly precarious in this city and I will pray for all of our police and first responders as they are forced to choose between calls that are steadily filling up their shifts.

I am glad that some communities put so much into their Community Relations divisions because it attracts many proactive citizens who engage the community consistently. 2nd District is a leading example of this effort in the city of Cleveland. Perhaps in the absence of regular cops; we can collectively watch out for each other and let criminals know that neighborhood watches are diligent and proactive and will report suspicious activity. That is very helpful to the police! Praying for all.