CLEVELAND — Cleveland Police Chief Annie Todd just finished her first year as the city’s top cop. Last year, at her first news conference as chief, News 5 Investigators asked what her priorities were in this new role.
“Violent crime, that's our number one, that's the number one thing for the citizens, another thing we have been working on is juvenile crimes,” Todd said.
A year later, Todd sat down with me.
Todd said the ultimate goal is to keep the community safe.
In 2024, violent street takeovers paralyzed the city, there was an all-out teen fight in Public Square, and teens were accused in carjackings and shootings.
“It has been a year,” Todd said.
Just weeks from marking her first year as Chief, Todd sat among city leaders at a Mayor’s town hall where a 10-year-old boy stood up to deliver a message.
“Will I have a chance to survive, will my life be cut short too?” the boy asked.
The child is 10-year-old Kaden Coleman’s best friend. Coleman died on Feb. 7 after he was shot in the head while riding in a car that was pelted with bullets.
Police later arrested a married couple now indicted on murder, involuntary manslaughter and drug trafficking charges.
News 5 Investigators asked Chief Todd what went through her mind hearing that.
“It’s devastating to have to listen to that,” Todd said. Right after the shooting, police only gave a written statement.
Todd agreed that the community likes to hear someone speaking.
“But police work is difficult and the circumstances behind some of these investigations are very sensitive and this was one of them,” Todd said.
Todd says while trying to be transparent, she also has to be mindful of the investigation and this one had a lot of nuances they couldn’t release.
“And I didn’t have the answers the community was looking for,” Todd said.
In her first year as Chief, there were 108 homicides. That’s down from 142 the previous twelve months.
Chief Todd says the homicide solve rate is above the national average.
She says violence interrupters have been at Public Square making sure scenes like the one after the Christmas Tree Lighting don’t happen again.
“It’s been working phenomenally,” Todd said.
She says they connect with kids in the neighborhood and at school.
"The kids trust them, they're not law enforcement,” Todd said.
And the city will soon have more officers on the street.
"Good things are happening. With the hiring, we hope to beef up our districts and expand some of our support units, but our men and women have done really great work when we’ve been down on our staffing,” Todd said.
Recently, Federal Monitor Karl Racine and the Chief sat down with me about the consent decree approaching its 10th year.
The two noted significant progress, but that more work is needed.
“My priorities for this year. I'm hoping we can change the view the community has of the Division of Police. I think for so long we are paying a penance to practices of 10, 15, 20 years ago and people can’t see past that,” Todd said.
Todd says part of that is getting into the community but also having people speak up, not only when they have frustrations but also in a show of support for officers.
