FULL INTERVIEW | Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sits down with 3News' Laura Caso

Coming off of a violent day and year in Cleveland, 3News took the problem of crime in our area straight to the top.

On Friday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sat for an interview with our Laura Caso from his residence in Bexley. The conversation came amid a violent 24 hours in Cleveland, where there were three shootings within about an hour's time, plus a shooting outside of a funeral service.

This year, DeWine addressed crime in Cleveland with a series of two-day "surge initiative" operations, which combined federal, state, and local law enforcement resources together to make over 200 felony arrests. The governor told Caso he is looking to put more resources into that effort so more operations can be done at once.

In the meantime, he says a big problem with violence in our city is young kids and guns.

"There are things we can do and we know what they are, having more boys clubs and girls clubs. We are investing in those, try to have local police grow those. It's giving kids alternatives and giving kids a sense of value, often times these kids are growing up and getting their sense of value from the gang they belong to. It's just a problem," DeWine explained.

The governor does understand that there are many layers to the crime problem in Clevleand.

"Businesses don't want to come and people don't want to move into a neighborhood where there is crime, so we owe it to people in those communities to do everything we can to lessen those burden," DeWine added.

So are Cleveland city leaders doing enough in the battle against violent crime?

"Look, I think the city is trying to do it," DeWine responded to Caso. "I see police officers up there every time I go up and doing great work, but it's a joint effort and we have to work with them and we have to give them assistance."

2023 was a busy year for DeWine. He dealt with everything from a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, to the passing of abortion and marijuana issues by voters last month. So what were the highs and lows for him this year?

More from his interview with Laura: https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/loc...