![Chief of Police Calvin Williams and Mayor Frank Jackson announcing homicide task force. [Tim Dubravetz / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4473d17/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1592+0+0/resize/840x446!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F9%2F19%2Fjackson_williams_web.jpg)
Law enforcement in Cleveland have organized a new task force to pursue open murder cases. The task force will include investigators from Cleveland police, the FBI and Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department. Cleveland Chief of Police Calvin Williams says it’ll look into cases that go beyond Cleveland’s borders.
“Their task is to review all the homicides that happened here in this part of Northeast Ohio to make sure we’re using every resource possible to get those solved,” says Williams.
In August, Mayor Frank Jackson said the solve rate for homicides in Cleveland this year was 47 percent.
The new unit is called the Cleveland Homicide Review Task Force. It will start by pulling investigators already working in the homicide division, on the gang unit and in the newly formed Neighborhood Impact Community Engagement squad. Williams says the department is also considering adding homicide detectives.
Update: After this story was published, Cleveland police confirmed the city's homicide solve rate as of Sept. 19, 2017, is 50%.
