Nov 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 11

of 1,640.
Of the 128 officers who left
the department between January
1–September 1, 56% of those
resigned and 40% retired. Three
officers were terminated, according
to department statistics.
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb
acknowledged the severity of
the situation, calling it a “serious
problem,” while Dr. Matt
Nordlund, an expert in industrial-organizational
psychology
at Cleveland State University,
attributed increased attrition to
high burnout rates among officers
and a potential vicious cycle
leading to more resignations and
retirements.
“We know that police officers
already have very high rates of
burnout, and I imagine this could
contribute to even higher rates
in the future,” he said. “So you
could have this vicious cycle,
where you have a limited number
of people trying to do more
and more things, leading to more
and more burnout and more and
more resignations and retirements,”
Nordlund said.
One officer suffering from
exhaustion and burnout was
Officer Dominic Naples, a patrolman
who was sworn into the
Cleveland Police Department in
September 2019.
Following a car crash in which
he was knocked unconscious,
Naples decided he had enough.
“I woke up in the hospital.
Didn’t know who I was. Don’t
remember any of the calls that
happened that day. It made me
kind of start to rethink everything,”
Naples said.
“It can burn you out really,
really fast, and I feel like that’s
what happened to me.”
48 The BLUES
JUDGE REINSTATES ALL
CHARGES AGAINST EX-PHILLY
OFFICER IN FATAL SHOOTING
By Chris Palmer and Rodrigo
Torrejón, The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA, PA. — A Philadelphia
judge on Wednesday
reinstated all charges, including
first-degree murder, against the
now-fired city police officer who
fatally shot 27-year-old Eddie
Irizarry in Kensington this past
summer.
The decision by Common Pleas
Court Judge Lillian Ransom
means that the prosecution of
Mark Dial will now proceed to
trial, an outcome that had been
uncertain after another judge —
Municipal Court Judge Wendy
Pew — dismissed all charges
after a preliminary hearing last
month.
Prosecutors charged Mark Dial,
with murder and other charges
for shooting and killing Eddie
Irizarry while a Philadelphia Police
officer.
The development marks the
latest chapter in the controversial
case — one that has led to
rallies and demonstrations at
which Irizarry’s relatives have
called for justice. Dial’s supporters,
meanwhile, have contended
that his actions did not amount
to a crime.
The case has attracted intense
interest from community members,
clergy leaders, and some
elected officials. And after Pew
dismissed charges last month,
there were also numerous instances
of burglaries and vandalism
at businesses throughout
the city — crimes that police
were quick to say had been
committed by “criminal opportunists”
seeking to take advantage
of the uproar over the case.
On Wednesday, prosecutors
told Ransom they believed Pew
erred when she ruled that they
hadn’t presented enough evidence
to substantiate murder
charges against Dial. They also
said Pew was wrong to have
considered the contentions of
Dial’s lawyers that his actions
were justified, saying such issues
should be argued at a possible
trial — not at a preliminary hearing.
”There is no doubt ... that Mark
Dial did something horribly
wrong,” said Assistant District
Attorney Lyandra Retacco, add-