Cuyahoga County Carjacking Initiative

The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department (CCSD), in concert with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office (CCPO) Crime Strategies Unit (CSU) and the Cleveland State University Criminology Research Center, proposes to implement the Cuyahoga County Response to Carjacking Initiative (RCI). It is anticipated that this initiative will result in an enhanced capacity to track, identify, and quickly respond to carjacking crime issues through the exploration and utilization of technology and artificial intelligence. As the CCSD's jurisdiction extends throughout the 59 municipalities that comprise Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the CCSD intends to replicate and expand the CCPO CSU's promising anti-carjacking strategy currently employed in the City of Cleveland into the cities, villages, and townships that surround the most populous city on Lake Erie. The RCI proposed activities include: 1) The CCSD creating a specialized law enforcement unit dedicated to investigating and assisting with cross-jurisdictional carjackings, as well as conducting outreach to and between the Cleveland Division of Police and over 50 local law enforcement agencies located in Cuyahoga County; 2) The CCPO CSU will continue to utilize Risk Terrain Modeling (RTM) to analyze carjacking data, distribute BOLOs for all carjacked vehicles in Cuyahoga County, and assist the CCSD with expanding carjacking outreach efforts and communication between multiple law enforcement agencies; and 3) The Cleveland State Criminology Research Center will conduct a process and outcome evaluation while providing training and technical assistance to the CSU and the CCSD on how to conduct RTM and other place-based analyses linking location incidents, recovery locations, and suspect information associated with carjacking. As part of the process evaluation, the Research Center will help inform operational changes, foster sustainability, and provide a framework for other jurisdictions seeking to develop and/or implement a similar unit. Through effective investigations, apprehensions, and prosecutions, the Cuyahoga County Response to Carjacking Initiative will assist in reducing the number of carjackings in Cuyahoga County.