Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office

Last updated
Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office
Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office Logo.jpg
Cuyahoga County Sheriff Logo
Cuy. Co. Sheriff badge.png
Sheriff's badge
AbbreviationCCSO
Jurisdictional structure
Map of Ohio highlighting Cuyahoga County.svg
Jurisdiction of Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department
Size1,246 sq mi (3,230 km2)
Population1,264,817
Legal jurisdictionCuyahoga County
Governing body Government of Cuyahoga County
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersJustice Center Complex Cleveland, Ohio
Agency executive
  • Harold Pretel, Sheriff
Facilities
Jails2
Website
cuyahogacounty.us/sheriff

The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency for Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The office provides the county with correctional, civil, and law enforcement services. It is the only Ohio county with an appointed sheriff rather than an elected one.

Contents

History

In 1810, Smith Balwin was elected as the first sheriff. [1]

In 1982, press reports indicated indiscipline in the county jail. Organized crime figures were being given special privileges they used to continue their rackets from behind bars. [2]

In 1997, the New York Times reported the FBI claimed a guard at the jail was selling drugs and claimed to be part of a ring of several dozen local officers who protected local drug dealers. [3]

In May 2009, Sheriff Gerald McFaul Sr. resigned in a scandal after press reports that he was accepting cash payments from employees for promotions and other favors. McFaul was later convicted on corruption charges. [2] Due to this scandal, the position of sheriff was made one that county officials appoint. [4] McFaul was replaced by Bob Reid, who was chief of police in Bedford, Ohio. Reid was asked to resign in January 2013. [5]

In 2015, the office established a Use of Deadly Force Investigation Unit to provide a standard, comprehensive, neutral investigative response to use of deadly force incidents. The unit, composed of specially-trained detectives, acts as an independent investigative unit that, when requested, investigates and reviews police use of deadly force incidents for requesting law enforcement entities. In 2015, the UDF team investigated six incidents.[ citation needed ]

In 2018, eight inmates died while in the county jail, culminating in the resignation of the head of the jail. [4] In 2019, his successor, Eric Ivey, was indicted on charges of tampering with evidence to hide problems at the facility. [6] In April 2019, five jailers were taken into custody by their own department on charges of turning off cameras, restraining and beating people, and other misconduct. [7] [8]

In July 2023, Harold Pretel, who had been Deputy Chief for the Cleveland Division of Police, was approved as Sheriff by the Cuyahoga County Council after being appointed by County Executive Chris Ronayne. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuyahoga County, Ohio</span> County in Ohio, United States

Cuyahoga County is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S.-Canada maritime border. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,264,817, making it the second-most-populous county in the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Perk</span> American politician (1914–1999)

Ralph Joseph Perk was an American politician of the Republican Party who served as the 52nd mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.

Bill Mason "William D." is the former prosecutor of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He took office in 1999, succeeding Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Mason was re-elected in 2004 and 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justice Center Complex</span> Local government building in the United States

The Justice Center Complex is a building complex located in the Civic Center District in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States. The complex consists of the Cleveland Police Headquarters Building, the Cuyahoga County and Cleveland Municipal Courts Tower, and the Correction Center, and Jail II. It occupies a city block bounded by Lakeside Avenue, Ontario Street, West 3rd Street, and St. Clair Avenue. The Lakeside Avenue entrance faces the Cuyahoga County Court House, erected in 1912.

Lance Timothy Mason is a convicted murderer, former politician, government official, and judge, who served in various offices in and representing Cleveland, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake County Sheriff's Department (Indiana)</span>

The Lake County Sheriff's Department is the county law enforcement agency for Lake County, Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleveland Division of Police</span> Law enforcement agency of Cleveland, Ohio, United States

The Cleveland Division of Police (CDP) is the governmental agency responsible for law enforcement in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. Karrie Howard is the Director of Public Safety and Dornat "Wayne" Drummond is Chief of Police.

Frank Robert Pokorny was an American attorney and politician who served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives of the U.S. state of Ohio. He represented Cuyahoga County from 1957 to 1961, and again from 1963 to 1965. After redistricting and the establishment of state districts, he represented District 57. He was appointed to the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners after the death of the incumbent, and served from February 1968 to April 1976. He resigned from office on April 12, 1976, after being indicted for misconduct of office. He pled guilty, and never served in public office again.

Thomas D. Ganley was an American businessman and politician who was an unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate.

On the morning of February 27, 2012, six students were shot at Chardon High School in Chardon, Ohio, resulting in the deaths of three of them. Witnesses said that the shooter had a personal rivalry with one of his victims. Two other wounded students were also hospitalized, one of whom sustained several serious injuries that have resulted in permanent paralysis. The fifth student suffered a minor injury, and the sixth a superficial wound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ariel Castro kidnappings</span> 2002–2004 kidnappings in Cleveland, Ohio, US

Between 2002 and 2004, Ariel Castro abducted Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus from the streets of Cleveland, Ohio and later held them captive in his home of 2207 Seymour Avenue in the city's Tremont neighborhood. All three young women were imprisoned at Castro's home until 2013, when Berry successfully escaped with her six-year-old daughter, to whom she had given birth while captive, and contacted the police. Police rescued Knight and DeJesus, and arrested Castro hours later.

Ricky Jackson, Ronnie Bridgeman and Wiley Bridgeman are African Americans who were wrongfully convicted of murder as young men in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975 and sentenced to death. Their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment in 1977. They were imprisoned for decades before each of the three was exonerated in late 2014. Jackson and Wiley Bridgeman were released that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Tamir Rice</span> 2014 police killing of an African-American boy in Cleveland, Ohio

On November 22, 2014, Tamir E. Rice, a 12-year-old African American boy, was killed in Cleveland, Ohio, by Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year-old white police officer. Rice was carrying a replica toy gun; Loehmann shot him almost immediately upon arriving on the scene. Two officers, Loehmann and 46-year-old Frank Garmback, were responding to a police dispatch call regarding a male who had a gun. A caller reported that a male was pointing "a pistol" at random people at the Cudell Recreation Center, a park in the City of Cleveland's Public Works Department. At the beginning of the call and again in the middle, he says of the pistol "it's probably fake." Toward the end of the two-minute call the caller states that "he is probably a juvenile", but the dispatcher did not relay either of these statements to Loehmann and Garmback.

The shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, two Black American individuals, occurred in East Cleveland, Ohio on November 29, 2012, at the conclusion of a 22-minute police chase which started in downtown Cleveland. Police claimed shots were fired at them as Russell and Williams drove by a squad car; however, this was their vehicle backfiring. Over 60 officers participated in a 23-mile police chase that ended in Russell and Williams' vehicle being surrounded. The victims had no weapon on them and police claimed they fired due to being fired at. Thirteen police officers fired at Russell and Williams 137 times while they were in their car at a parking lot of a middle school, killing both. In May 2014, one of the officers involved, Michael Brelo, was charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter, and was acquitted by a Cuyahoga County judge of the charges on May 23, 2015.

James C. "Jimmy" Dimora is an American politician who served as Cuyahoga County Commissioner from 1998 until 2010, and as chairman of the county Democratic Party from 1994 until 2009. Before being elected county commissioner, Dimora served as mayor of Bedford Heights, Ohio for 17 years. In 2012 Dimora was convicted of 32 charges including racketeering, bribery, conspiracy, and tax charges and sentenced to 28 years in federal prison in one of the largest criminal corruption cases in Ohio history. He was originally serving his sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, with a release date of 2031. His inmate number is 56275-060.

Prindle, Patrick and Associates was an architectural firm founded by architect Theodore Hord Prindle in 1957 as Titus & Prindle. The firm designed a wide range of buildings, but specialized in jails, prisons, and other correctional facilities. Its most notable projects include the Municipal Court, Hall of Justice, jail, and courthouse annex at the Franklin County Government Center in Columbus, Ohio, and the courthouse, jail, and county sheriff headquarters at the Justice Center Complex in Cleveland, Ohio. The firm dissolved in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Jones (Ohio lawyer)</span> American lawyer

Robert Walter Jones was a Cleveland, Ohio lawyer, politician, law professor, civil rights litigator and environmentalist. As an attorney, he was employed in public capacities in Northeastern Ohio as a Legal Aid Public Defender, United States Attorney, and City of Cleveland attorney. In response to the Cuyahoga River fire, as U.S. Attorney in 1970 he led the first Federal grand jury water pollution investigations and prosecutions setting into motion the recovery of the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie and the development of the Clean Water Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1979 Cleveland mayoral election</span>

The 1979 Cleveland mayoral election took place on November 6, 1979, to elect the Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. George Voinovich defeated incumbent mayor Dennis Kucinich. The election was officially nonpartisan, with the top two candidates from the October 2 primary advancing to the general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Cuyahoga County executive election</span> American county executive election

The 2022 Cuyahoga County executive election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the County Executive of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Incumbent Democratic County Executive Armond Budish was eligible to run for a third term, but instead chose to retire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Cuyahoga County executive election</span> American county executive election

The 2014 Cuyahoga County executive election took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the County Executive of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Incumbent Democratic County Executive Ed FitzGerald was eligible to run for reelection, but instead retired in order to run unsuccessfully for governor in the concurrent gubernatorial election.

References

  1. "Cuyahoga County Sheriffs Past & Present". Cuyahoga County. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  2. 1 2 Puente, Mark (25 May 2009). "Sheriff Gerald McFaul resigns amid questions about cash". Plain Dealer. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  3. Belluckjan, Pam (22 January 1998). "44 Officers Are Charged After Ohio Sting Operation". New York Times. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  4. 1 2 Shaw, Courtney (14 November 2018). "Director of Cuyahoga County Corrections resigns". ABC News 5 Cleveland. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  5. Caniglia, John (3 January 2013). "Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid says he was 'surprised' over resignation". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  6. Ferrise, Adam (19 April 2019). "Cuyahoga County Jail associate warden to continue making $93,000 salary after indictment, investigations". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  7. Gallek, Ed (12 April 2019). "I-TEAM VIDEO: Deputies arrest jailers from their own department". Fox 8 Cleveland. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  8. Ferrise, Adam (6 June 2019). "Video shows Cuyahoga County Jail officer pummel mentally-ill inmate after turning off body camera". Plain Dealer. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  9. Cuyahoga County Council approves Harold Pretel as new county sheriff - WKYC.com