[MSN] A fine mess: Bandit burgles plaque of Ness

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A fine mess: Bandit burgles plaque of Ness
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Gabriel Baird
Plain Dealer Reporter

A thief has burglarized the most unlikely place, the headquarters of the 
Cleveland police.

The bandit selected the ultimate prize for insulting the very notion of 
justice: a bronze plaque picturing the man who may be the city's best 
crime- fighter of all time and certainly the city's most widely known 
lawman: Eliot Ness.

Ness made his name in Prohibition-era Chicago by successfully 
prosecuting notorious gangster Al "Scarface" Capone in 1931.

Kevin Costner played him in "The Untouchables" movie in 1987. Ness came 
to Cleveland in the 1930s to be the city's public safety director after 
his stint in Chicago.

Although the plaque was housed in the police station, it didn't take any 
"Mission: Impossible" acrobatics to grab it and run.

Worth about $225 in cash but much more in sentimental value, the plaque 
was in the police museum on the first floor of the Justice Center. 
Visitors don't have to go through a security check to get into the 
museum, which is operated not by the Police Department, but by the 
Cleveland Police Historical Society.

Volunteers staff the museum and guide visitors through antique police 
uniforms, photographs and relics of policing technology past. But they 
are not trained to detect crime.

When it was first noticed that the bronze on walnut plaque was missing 
from the Wall of Fame, museum volunteers didn't report it stolen. They 
thought perhaps someone had borrowed the local treasure. After all, at 
times the museum does lend out its materials.

Thefts are infrequent at the police museum. But some years back, an 
antique badge was stolen. It was recovered.

A blurb asking for help finding the plaque recently ran in the 
Vindicator, the newsletter of the Fraternal Order of Police. Then, the 
missing plaque came to the attention of the police chief.

Sgt. Daniel Fay, a Cleveland police spokesman, said a theft report was 
expected to be filed with police Wednesday. Once it is reported as a 
crime, a suspect could be charged with breaking and entering, a felony. 
If a police report is filed, it is likely to be assigned to Third 
District detectives.

First place the police will look: eBay.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

gbaird at plaind.com, 216-999-4141

http://www.cleveland.com/