The Hot Sheet

In his 1867 Annual Message, Cleveland Mayor and President of the Board of Metropolitan Police Herman M. Chapin explained how the police department covered the community. The city’s nine square…

After voluntary closures and suggested social isolation proved unsuccessful in keeping the case numbers down, the city and county mandated closures and quarantines.  Calling the pandemic “the most serious menace…

As automobile traffic increased in the United States, auto clubs sprang up across the country.  In the early 1900s, these clubs began discussing the need for uniform traffic regulations.  Individual…

In 1907, Jerry Murphy developed his most efficient and successful version of the call box system.  The new call boxes were significantly smaller – still tall, but made of steel…

In 1904, George Koestle and Chief of Police Fred Kohler traveled to the St. Louis World’s Fair to witness a demonstration of a new method of criminal identification, fingerprinting.  Based…

Many more attempts at designing a functional traffic signal followed. In 1916, Clevelanders John Tomko, CW Oppenlander and SW Oppenlander invented an “electric semaphore” for “minimizing traffic hazards.” The device…

The Memorial Service for Eliot Ness, his wife Elisabeth and their son Robert took place on September 10, 1997, organized by the Cleveland Police Historical Society and Museum. The service…

The Cleveland Police used traffic semaphores to bring order and safety to our streets.  The officer set up the semaphore in the middle of the intersection and controlled the flow…

In 1896, the Cleveland Police Department created the Bureau of Criminal Identification, led by George Koestle. As a young man, Koestle worked for one of the commercial photographers hired by…

The Plain Dealer touted the new system in an extensive article on July 31, 1898: “Another great stride forward has been made in the local police department by the adoption…

During her tenure, Mrs. Constant found deplorable conditions in many of the factories and stores she inspected.  “One shop in which many young girls were employed had no drinking water…

In 1924, the Cleveland Police Department created the Women’s Bureau.  Over the next fifty years, officers in the Women’s Bureau worked with families, women and children involved in criminal activity…