Cleveland Police Chief Wayne Drummond has spoken out about reports claiming that about 30 children have recently gone missing in Cleveland.

In his press conference, Chief Drummond stated that that information was “misleading,” while also claiming that Cleveland police take each missing child report extremely seriously. “I just want to bring clarity and make sure we clear up some of the misinformation I believe is out there,” Drummond told reporters.

Here are the facts:

In 2023 so far, 1,072 children in the city of Cleveland have been reported missing. That number is a 20% increase over this time last year. However, of those 1072 missing kids, 1,020 of them have returned home.

From WKYC:

“We do have missing individuals in the city of Cleveland,” Drummond said. “No question about it. We take every single one of them seriously. Our detectives take it seriously. … That’s why in the city of Cleveland we have a dedicated detective in each of the districts.”

However, the one big question remains: Why is there a 20% increase in missing kids from this time last year?

According to an official of the Northeast Ohio Human Trafficking Taskforce, “It’s becoming summer months. A lot of kids get antsy, and have a lack of supervision at home. They want to be out with their friends and, ya know, go out into the streets and enjoy themselves in the summer.”

Regardless of what the numbers say, we all play a part in making sure the children in our community are safe.

Information from a WKYC report was used in this post. To see the entire story, [click here].

The Cleveland Police Department’s motivations were previously called into question after it announced plans to recruit students from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to police Black communities.

Earlier this year, the city’s Department of Public Safety turned to HBCUs to fill positions in law enforcement in a possible effort to decrease racial tensions in their communities.

“Many of the scholars who are graduating from HBCUs are the products of the communities where we are needing people to actually serve,” Cleveland City Councilwoman Stephanie Howse said in January. “There is a learning curve that wouldn’t need to be reached.”

According to reports from the New York Times, Police departments across the country have had trouble recruiting and retaining officers of color. The murder of George Floyd, in addition to the historical tensions between law enforcement and these communities, has led to significant problems in minority recruitment for a sector that desperately needs to understand the communities they serve.

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