CLEVELAND — The City of Cleveland wants to stop violent crime before it begins. To do that, they want to get guns used in crimes off the streets faster. Cleveland plans to open a Crime Gun Intelligence Center this summer.
In his swearing in, Safety Director Wayne Drummond touched on what will be a collaboration with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Police did their homework at similar setups in Ohio and across the country.
The most recent homicide numbers show Cleveland sitting at 17 so far this year. This time last year, there were 30.
In all of 2023, the city had 165 homicides, and most involved guns.
One of them is Camerin Turner’s case, which is still unsolved.
"It definitely broke us,” said Turner’s Aunt, Lisa Barnes.
Last October, Camerin was one of three teens shot on Hamlet Avenue.
Police say there was a homecoming after-party at a home rented online by teens.
Camerin’s family said he was leaving when there was a drive-by, and Camerin didn’t survive.
"It was surreal when I got there. It was a life changing event,” Barnes said.
On his first day as Public Safety Director, Drummond announced the Crime Gun Intelligence Center or CGIC, which is set to open in June.
“The priority for me is violence prevention,” Drummond said. The idea is to identify a gun and the people using it, specifically in homicides, aggravated robberies and shootings into homes.
Cleveland Deputy Chief Ali Pillow said they plan to track “the weapons themselves, shell casings, any evidence related to those guns — in particular shell casings, sometimes bullet fragments — and the weapons themselves."
The same gun could be used in multiple crimes, and not just in Cleveland.
“We might have something that happened in Cleveland that can be associated with a crime in Lakewood. Because we’ll all be partners, getting that information from Lakewood or to Lakewood will be so much faster,” Pillow said. Cincinnati opened a similar facility in 2021.
"The closure rates within the homicide unit have increased significantly,” said Cincinnati Police Lt. Col. Mike John.
Cleveland recently toured Cincinnati's Gun Crime Intelligence Center and had conversations with people who run ones in Denver and Kansas City, Missouri to see how theirs work.
Pillow says this collaboration with the ATF and other law enforcement will streamline things.
“Because Cleveland has so much crime and so many weapons recovered here, we’ll have a large footprint. But we’re all equal partners in this process and in this venture,” Pillow said.
Pillow said it’s separate from what’s being done at the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“The medical examiner has a role and they do some specific testing, but some of our partners, the ATF, they process some of the other portions of it and it makes it much faster,” Pillow said.
News 5 Investigators asked Pillow if he thinks this center will increase the closure rate of homicides here.
“Not only closure rate, I think that it will prevent some homicides as we identify individuals who participate in crimes,” Pillow said.
Pillow said they have a good idea of where it will be located but are holding off saying where until things are finalized.
It will have supervisors on staff from Cleveland Police and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, along with their federal partners.
