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'Speak up!' Cleveland authorities make urgent plea to community amid violent crimes

'You are just as bad as the folks who’ve committed these crimes if you stay silent and stay quiet. We need you to come forward.'

CLEVELAND — Say something! It’s time for action!

That was the message from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, Police Chief Calvin Williams and members of city council who joined together Monday with a plea for the community to step forward with any information on recent violent crimes.

“We’re calling on the public, particularly our young people, to abandon the code of silence that we have in our community, this ‘no snitch’ rule,” Councilman Kevin Bishop said on the steps of City Hall. “We are urging you to come forward with any information or any tips you have about these crimes.”

Their message comes amid recent crimes in the city – including the death of a 6-year-old girl who was killed in a shooting Saturday morning in the 1300 block of East 171st Street.

Chief Williams echoed Bishop’s urgent call for help.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “We need our community, we need our partners out there to step forward and take control of what’s going on in this city. … We know there is somebody out there that knows something about each one of these incidents of senseless violence that has happened in our city over the last three or four months. Call those leads in.”

Councilman Anthony Hairston ended their press conference saying these kinds of crimes are simply unacceptable.

“If you know something, say something!” Hairston pleaded. “No longer can we sit in these communities and be quiet about the things that we know are taking place. … Speak up! You are just as bad as the folks who’ve committed these crimes if you stay silent and stay quiet. We need you to come forward. Most cases you can remain anonymous. … We are begging you. To the community, and to those who are committing these crimes, this must stop today! These senseless, these egregious crimes being committed on our babies? Our babies? Come on! Our women and seniors in our community? Unacceptable and will not be tolerated!”

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