PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN
Tuesday, December 10, 2024; Second District Police Station, 3481 Fulton Road: New Second District Commander Timothy Maffo-Judd at his desk in the Commander’s Office.
by Chuck Hoven
(Plain Press January 2025) The new Second District Commander, Timothy Maffo-Judd, says of his new position, “I am humbled to be here, and excited at the same time. I can’t wait to see what the future brings.”
The Second District roughly covers the area from Lake Erie on the north to Brook Park on the south. The Cuyahoga River is the eastern boundary, and the western boundary is W. 85th in the area north of Lorain Avenue and W. 73rd and Ridge Road in the area South of Lorain Avenue. Commander Maffo-Judd says the Second District has between 150 and 170 officers.
A goal for the Second District is for police officers to be engaged in Community Problem Oriented Policing (CPOP), said Commander Maffo-Judd. He explained that CPOP is a “whole government approach” to solving problems encountered by police. For example, he said an area with high drug activity may have streetlights that are out. As part of solving the problem in that area, Police Officers could contact Cleveland Public Power to make the area brighter.
To learn about how other cities are implementing CPOP, Maffo-Judd recently visited the City of Baltimore to learn about how that City is using CPOP to solve problems. Maffo-Judd said in addition to government resources, officers would learn about nonprofit organizations and private sector organizations that have resources to address specific problems. He envisions police officers reaching out to City Council representatives, businesses, neighborhood organizations, and clergy to help solve neighborhood problems.
Maffo-Judd says his goals for the Second District include two major thrusts.
One is having great community and police relations which involves officers engaging with the public, giving quality service, and participating in constitutional policing as outlined in the consent decree and state and local law.
The second goal is to improve police officers’ work experience by providing a positive environment and a clean quality workplace at Second District.
He said those goals will be measured by both data and by stories told by police officers and community members.
Community Relations
A major effort in the Second District to improve police community relations is to have police officers engage in a practice called “park, walk and talk”. Speaking of “park, walk and talk” Commander Maffo-Judd says, “I place emphasis on it, and think it is super important.”
The Commander explained how the program will work. He said that in the Second District there are four police squads of about twenty officers on each 12-hour shift. He says each squad is given a location in their patrol area where some officers from the squad will do a park and walk during their shift. The idea is for officers to get out of their cars and engage in walking and talking with residents. The “park, walk and talk” will last from 15 minutes to an hour, he said. Maffo-Judd said the Second District now does about half the of the “park, walk and talk” being initiated city-wide.
Other examples mentioned by Maffo-Judd of ways Second District officers are engaging in community relations include some ongoing Second District programs. These include Coffee with Cops and the Second District Socks and Underwear Drive. He said the Second District collects socks and underwear for adults in the unsheltered community each year and works with organizations such as the Metanoia Project to get them to people that can use them. The Second District also distributes toys to children each December.
Other ideas for community engagement include ward tours with each of the five City Council members representing parts of the Second District, attending local block clubs, ride-along with police officers, pancake breakfasts, meeting with staff members of local nonprofit organizations and meeting with organizations that reach out to interact with local police. Maffo-Judd mentioned some other ideas such as “Mow and Protect”– police mowing lawns for residents who can no longer do that chore –and a program such as police providing fishing rods for youths and teaching them to fish. Commander Maffo-Judd says he would like to create an outdoor space in front of the Second District headquarters where community engagement could take place.
Commander Maffo-Judd says the Second District also has a social media presence on Facebook where residents can find information on missing persons, safety walks and other items of interest in the Second District. He said he will be accessible to those trying to reach him with phone calls, email or by attending the Second District Policing Committee meetings.
When it is necessary for police to engage with persons suffering from a mental health crisis, Commander Maffo-Judd says that while all officers now receive crisis intervention training, some are especially trained to be Crisis Intervention Team officers. In a partnership with the Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board (ADAMHS), those officers are now joined by a social worker when they respond to a mental health crisis as part of a Crisis Response Team, he said. Maffo-Judd said officers on the Crisis Response Team generally dress down rather than responding to a crisis in uniform.
Officer Wellness
Commander Maffo-Judd believes in the importance of promoting “officer wellness.” He says that if police officers have a good, clean work environment that will help them to have better interactions with the public. He noted that the working conditions at the Second District improved dramatically two years ago when a former prisoner intake space no longer being used was converted into an officer lounge and roll call room with the assistance of the Cleveland Police Foundation.
Personal History
Commander Maffo-Judd, who began serving as Second District Commander in November of 2024, says he lives in the Second District in the Bridge Avenue area, just a stone’s throw from St. Stephen’s Church on W. 54th. Maffo-Judd says, “It is an honor to be offered a command in the Police District where you live and play.”
While Maffo-Judd grew up in the First Police District at W. 117th and Dale, near Halloran Park, he said that he spent considerable time in the Second District as a child. He attended elementary school at Saint Mary Byzantine Catholic School on State Road in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood and his family belonged to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish at W. 70th and Detroit Avenue in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.
During his tenure as a police officer, Maffo-Judd also spent considerable time serving in the Second District. He explained that the City of Cleveland’s policy is to transfer officers to a different district each time they are promoted. After graduating from the Police Academy on October 15, 2007, Maffo-Judd served as a Patrol Officer in the Second District. When he was promoted to Sergeant, he was sent to the Fifth District. He then returned to the Second District to as a Sergeant. When promoted to Lieutenant, Maffo-Judd served in the Bureau of Community Relations. He then returned to the Second District as a Lieutenant and served there until he was named Captain and transferred to the Fifth District. As a Captain, he later served in the Third District. After serving as Captain in the Third District, Maffo-Judd was appointed to his current position as Commander of the Second District.
As a youth growing up in Cleveland, Maffo-Judd said he always had an interest in “a career in public safety.” When he and friends played outside, they always waved to police cars when they went by. Living near the fire station near Halloran Park, he also saw fire fighters from Engine 33 and Emergency Medical Service workers at work and sitting outside and engaging in conversations with neighborhood youth. He said his experiences with public service workers were positive as a youth. He believes that every police officer is a recruiting officer and by respectfully engaging with members of the public they are the best recruiters of future officers.
Commander Timothy Maffo-Judd said that while his father is a retired police officer, his father didn’t become a police officer until he was 43 years old – so his father was not a police officer while he was a youth. In fact, Maffo-Judd says his father’s police academy class was only two classes ahead of his. Timothy Maffo-Judd became a police officer at age 24.
Prior to him becoming a police office, Maffo-Judd says he taught middle school in Australia, was a substitute teacher in Cleveland, and served for five years in the Marine Reserves.
Plain Press 
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