Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath talks about Anthony Sowell case

11-15-2009 Ohio:

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Questions have been raised across the community about what could have been done to prevent the horror found at Imperial Avenue, where police uncovered the bodies of 11 women from Anthony Sowell's home.

Some lamented the breakdown of community, where neighbors did not notice something was amiss. Others have accused the police of being slow to react to reports of missing women because they had criminal records and used drugs.

Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath and members of the police staff sat with Plain Dealer reporter Mark Puente Friday for a wide-ranging interview that lasted more than an hour. McGrath was commander of the 4th Police District, which includes the neighborhood around Sowell's home, before becoming chief in 2005. The answers are from McGrath unless otherwise noted:

After any of the arrests or calls to Sowell's house in 2008 and 2009, did officers run Sowell's name in any sex offender database? Should they have? Would you like them to in the future?

"It depends on each situation. Each situation is taken solely on itself. The officers arrive on the scene and assess the situation. Part of our protocol is to notify their supervisor, notify their immediate supervisor. They brief him on what they have. If it is serious rape case, they refer them to the Sex Crimes Unit and reach out to them immediately. They then get their direction from them. Once the case goes to the Sex Crimes Unit, those officers would have done a complete check."

Do responding officers have the ability to check incident reports or criminal histories from their cars, which could have indicated a pattern of behavior by Sowell? Should they have?

"As soon as they got the name, they would not have known his history." Patrol officers can check old incident reports on their car's computers and might have seen the older reports. They could have had access to that reports. Sgt. Toni McMahn, a supervisor in the Sex Crimes Unit, said it is not standard protocol for the patrol officers to run the background checks and that it is the detectives jobs to do all the history checks. Most patrol officers are not certified.

Were officers assigned to that neighborhood aware that Sowell was a sex offender who served 15 years in prison? If not, is there any way to change that?

"I can't answer for those officers. We try to keep them in certain neighborhoods so they are familiar. The numbers of individuals that are labeled as sexual offenders or predators in the neighborhoods are in the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds in our neighborhoods. If they were not familiar with him, probably not. They have Internet access to the sheriff's Web site but the time constraints to do that when they are trying to respond to radio runs are unreasonable to assume they can do that. The numbers are just too many. But if they work that neighborhood, they might have known him."

Given the serious allegations in the Sept. 22 report (in which a woman said Sowell choked and raped her) and Sowell's criminal history, did the case sit for a few days? How many officers are assigned to that unit?

McGrath said it is not usual to have these cases sit. This case did not sit and was assigned to a detective when sex crimes received it Sept. 23, said Lt. Michael Baumiller, who runs the unit. The detective called the victim by phone. The next two days he was off. She did not call him back while he was off, Baumiller said. When the detective returned he tried contacting her again. The unit has 14 detectives. Eleven detectives work the cases and are supervised by two sergeants and one lieutenant.

Are you satisfied with the way cases are moved from the five districts to the specialized investigative units downtown? Will that process be examined?

"I was a district commander for eight years. I have been the chief almost five years and I can't think of any instance where he had a follow-up problem with the units downtown. These district commanders are like police chief in their districts and would be complaining if they're not getting follow-ups. I have never had instance where we had problems. I usually receive letters from the court, judges and prosecutors saying what a good job they do. We have had homicides that are a few years old and the victims families do call. But something immediate where we have a crime, I cannot think of an instance. If people really have an issue with that, they can call the Office of Professional Standards."

Are patrol officers trained in how to handle sexual assaults? Are there patrol officers in each of the districts who are trained to handle the initial sexual assault calls?

"The state requires every officer to be trained on sexual assaults. They have to be trained relative to sexual assaults in our academy. That is part of graduating from the police academy as a cadet." Every year officers receive 40 hours of in-service training. That training is broken into eight hours segments and on some years it is devoted to sexual assaults. One of those components is devoted on how you treat these victims and they received that training last year, McGrath said. "The state mandates 24 hours of training but we do 40 hours of training." Cleveland is above the state mandate.

Nurses certified in Sexual Assault Nursing Exams address the officers and recruits on how to make initial contact with victims in hospitals or at the scenes, Baumiller said. "We train them what to look for so we can have successful prosecutions," Baumiller said

If a woman initially says she was raped, obviously beaten and/or taken to the hospital but does not want to cooperate with detectives, how do police handle that? Are you satisfied with the way it was is handled in these cases?

McGrath said the department has a specific procedures and that he is satisfied with the current protocol. Baumiller said the standard is for detectives to immediately contact the victim and try to get them downtown for an appointment. "We strongly urge them to come in. The victim is the key to our investigation," Baumiller said. "If that is unsuccessful, they will go to the home. If there is no response, they will leave a card. If there is no response to that, they will call again. Then a registered letter is sent to them. If that comes back unsigned, we then take what we got to the prosecutor's office to get a ruling. That is done with every case."

Fairly or not, some relatives of the missing and deceased have complained that they were not taken seriously by police because of their loved ones' criminal records or drug problems? Is this a fair criticism? Why or why not?

"Number one, it's not fair criticism. For the simple reason, we provide a service to the entire community. I don't care who it is in the community, and I make this speech to every academy class three times before they graduate. Then I bring them in just prior to their six month probationary period. Were all about providing service to everyone. It doesn't matter who they are. We take it very seriously and respectfully. There are no other options."

Some relatives of the missing/deceased and others in the black community say the police department has differing polices for investigating black and white crime victims. Are there two policies? How do you respond?

"There are no two policies. You know, I have been a police officer for 36 years the better part of my 36 years has always been in a very distressed African-American community. I am very sensitive to their concerns, their culture and everything else. But not just there. You know I am concerned about everyone in this city. We provide a service to everyone. It doesn't matter who they are or where they are from."

Some people have raised questions about the role of the police given that the mayor's niece lived with Sowell at one point. They said police didn't come around because the niece lived there and as a result Sowell was somehow protected. How do you respond?

"We did not know she lived or associated with this guy until after the fact. In fact, the mayor did not know his niece hung around with this guy until after the fact. This all came out after the fact. That question is very, very out there. We had no knowledge she was living with this individual. None whatsoever."

Are you satisfied with the actions of officers and detectives related to incidents with Sowell in December 2008 (the attempted rape), September 2009 (the rape that lead to indictment) and October 2009 (the 9-1-1 call about a naked woman falling out Sowell's window)?

"I am. But there again with this whole situation with Sowell from the day he enlisted in the Marine Corps up until we arrested him on the 30th of last month, we're going to asses this whole process. And at some point in time, it will go to our Integrity Control section and if there is something there that we missed or if there is a protocol or some type of policy or procedure that we have to change, we will do it. But up to this point after reviewing the reports and talking to some of the investigators and I don't have all the information right now because this is currently under investigation ... but up to this point I am satisfied with the work and response done by the Cleveland Police Department and their partners. We have had a lot of help from other agencies, including the FBI, U.S. Marshals, Sheriff's Office. Everybody stepped up and they're doing a good job. Once it completed well go back and look at it and reassess it. If we need to change something, we will do it." ..Source.. by Mark Puente, The Plain Dealer