Some “unemployed” residents find crime to be their best source of steady income. Judge Richard Stevens of Western County Court says he noticed a 50-percent increase in the number of criminal cases handled by his court between 2005 and last year.
“How much of that is due to the economy, I can’t say,” says Stevens. “When the economy goes bad, a lot of things go bad. Unemployment is a difficult time and can lead people to do things they might not normal do.”
Like shoplifting. Stevens says there’s been a substantial increase in the number of shoplifting cases. “Whether that’s because of an actual increase in shoplifting or stepped up enforcement, I can’t say.”
Ashtabula County Sheriff William Johnson says virtually all shoplifting and other property cases handled by the department have drugs at their core. “Nine-five to 98 percent of all our calls are somehow drug related,” Johnson says.
Lt. Greg Leonhard, a 22-year veteran of the department, is in charge of the uniformed and dispatching division of the Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Department. Leonhard sees two factors driving crime: a weak economy and a lack of moral values.
“Morally, people are changing ... there is moral decay,” he says.
“Even if they do know the rules, they don’t care about them,” Johnson says.
Both Leonhard and Johnson say there is a segment of the county’s population that makes a living dealing drugs. Johnson can’t put a number on the size of this segment, but he knows they do very well financially, and it’s tax-free money that won’t show up in per capita figures.
“They have more money than you and I and 10 people put together,” Johnson says.
Leonhard says crime tends to be cyclical in the county and rises whenever the economy falters. Concurrently, county budget woes, driven by a weak economy, have resulted in severe staffing cuts in Johnson’s department. When he took office in 1993, there were 112 employees in the office; now there are 78. During that same time, the burden of mandated duties has increased without boosts in funding.
Reality Check
June 25, 2008
Crime & Drugs Inc. always hiring
- Reality Check
-
-
Why are we hurting so?
It’s time for a reality check.: Main story, Day one
-
Beyond wineries and covered bridges …
An introduction to reality check
-
What it is, how it’s calculated
Determining per capita income is a complex exercise that — at best — is a mathematical expression of a moving target.
In its simplest terms, per capita income is, according to the Ohio Department of Development, “the income of a given area divided by the resident population of that area.” Sounds simple enough, but arriving at the figure is not. -
Bad vibes: Lack of opportunities, progress make for sour attitudes
Eavesdrop on conversations at the lunch counter, in the aisles of Wal-Mart on a Friday evening or around the sports bar on a Sunday afternoon, and you’re likely to hear some pretty disparaging remarks about the old hometown.
- Finding work after prison nearly impossible A portion of Ashtabula County’s unemployed can’t find a job because of their prior address – a prison cell.
- County part of Team NEO marketing efforts Ashtabula County is part of a 16-county alliance aimed at marketing the Northeast Ohio region to employers and business investors, many of have never heard of Ashtabula, let alone Mentor, Akron or Youngstown.
- Some people just don’t want a job Ashtabula County Commissioner Deborah Newcomb talks to a lot of employers, and they all express the same concern: finding people reliable people with basic skills is a problem.
-
POOR BUT WORKING
A winter wind blew across the parking lot of the Neighbor to Neighbor Food Pantry next to St. Joseph’s Church in Ashtabula; the six adults lined up at the door turned their faces from the wind, toward the metaphoric concrete wall of the building.
-
County's largest hospital feels the Medicaid pain
Perhaps no one in Ashtabula County feels the pinch of subsidizing unemployed or underemployed individuals more than Philip E. Pawlowski.
- Crime & Drugs Inc. always hiring Some “unemployed” residents find crime to be their best source of steady income. Judge Richard Stevens of Western County Court says he noticed a 50-percent increase in the number of criminal cases handled by his court between 2005 and last year.
- More Reality Check Headlines
-
