Last year, internal documents highlighted that Ralph Valentino, the Commander of the Fourth District, had proposed financial rewards to stimulate arrests regarding multiple burglaries at local Save a Lot retailers. From the notes taken during the weekly supervisorial gathering of District 4, it became evident that Valentino solicited the focused involvement of detectives, the Violent Crime Reduction Team, and vice units on protecting the Save-A-Lot locations at addresses 6501 Harvard and 14301 Kinsman. These were the stores being majorly affected by the wave of recent break-ins. The notes also disclosed Commander Valentino’s eagerness to offer a prize money of $500 for any successful apprehension.
The internal affairs department continues to scrutinize these actions of Valentino. Without revealing many specifics, it has been confirmed unequivocally that offering such financial rewarding schemes falls outside the bounds of authority of a supervisory position. The policy of granting monetary incentives for enhanced performance in the line of duty is currently not part of the accepted protocol.
John Adams, who jointly presides over the Cleveland Police Community Commission, remarked with concern regarding Valentino’s approach. To him, the whole idea resonates with the concept of a bounty. Sharing his apprehensions, he stressed on the ethical contradictions that it presents and his belief that such practices should not have a place in modern law enforcement.
Scrutiny of Valentino’s professional conduct is not a new development. On multiple occasions in the past, he has suggested ideas to boost morale and productivity via cash rewards. One of such instance was him wanting to initiate a contest involving the issuance of traffic citations. The design of the proposed contest was such that the officer issuing maximum tickets would become eligible for a monthly cash reward.
Adams has been vocal about his disapproval of Valentino’s leadership in one of Cleveland’s busiest sectors – the Fourth District. In his opinion, Valentino’s appointment should have included more input from the Police Community Commission. However, why Valentino received this promotion remains unclear yet.
Meanwhile, one of the targeted establishments, the Save A Lot franchise, had been struggling with continual thefts and robberies. Jerome Bouyer, holding the position of vice president of operations at Save a Lot, shared the grim situation the stores have been coping with, mentioning a series of 23 distinct cases of burglary over a short span of four months.
Bouyer also highlighted the issue of persistently being subjected to vandalism, which was affecting business viability. He confessed that the frequency of such attacks and resulting economic burden was challenging the justifiability of staying operational.
Local community activist and founder of Black on Black Crime Inc., Art McKoy, expressed his discomfort with how Valentino was encouraging his officers to capture the culprits with such cash rewards. He said the practice was unconventional and hard for him to accept. The motivation, in his opinion, should stem from basic policing duty.
McKoy compared Valentino’s tactic to bounty hunting, expressing his dislike towards it. He shared his doubt whether this was the right way to inspire law enforcement personnel to increase their efficiency in cracking down on crimes.