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In less than 20 days, you will be gone from our community indefinitely. While we wish to send you early Birthday Wishes; we recognize that retiring from the Cleveland Police Department will also open new doors for you. We wish you the best! Along the way, you've created unforgetable memories for countless persons who've had the honor of being arrested and cited by you. I can remember a few myself.
I know many folks who are counting down your days with happiness. Yet, I can honestly say it will be bittersweet to see you go. You shall be missed even though you were definitely a thorn in many folks sides for ages!
I'll forever remember Simone ticketing me for parking on the curb, ticketing me for pulling up on the wrong side of the street to say hi to my friend's mom who had signaled me as I was driving by, and for him ticketing me for apparently not stopping at a "yellow" caution light in front of St. Rocco's while taking my deployed team leader's family to the Ringling Bros. Circus one Fall.
I've heard the stories forever...Almost every person I've ever discussed Simone with says: "he'll ticket his very own mother."
During the "Blue Flu" back in 2004, I recall yelling at him about the "attitude" of the cops who were being very negligent during that spell.
It's been interesting living in 2nd District and watching Simone ticketing during the afternoon rushhours along Fulton Road throughout the years...
Whenever I have had to go to traffic court, who was almost always there with his video tapes in hand? Simone. For years, I thought he was ten feet tall until the day I approached his car and he got out of the car to talk to me. It was then that I realized he was human, despite his history as being Cleveland's "SUPERCOP".
My child has grown to appreciate the work of the police and always looks for her favorite cop car, "266" sitting on the corners. Whenever she sees a cop car, she immediately looks to see if it's Jimmy Simone.
I pray that the future endeavors of Officer Jimmy Simone are very successful. He's been a menacing cop who never gave anyone a break without depthful consideration.
When my nephew pulled a stunt that was pretty ugly leaving my mom in tears while he laughed; I was so disappointed that I took him to see Simone at the station for a different perspective. Ultimately, he apologized to my mother and hopefully learned a lifelong lesson.
Simone, you've been a character that many have challenged. You've been someone the teens admired enough to request at their awards ceremony with the Clark Metro Youth Awards. You've been the one who reminded countless people (to include myself) that: "It was not YOU WHO WAS PUTTING THEM IN JAIL; BUT THEIR ACTIONS WERE PUTTING THEM INTO JAIL."
While you set aside your own abilities to be a high speed, zero drag leader to remain a "Traffic Cop"; our city lost out on TRUE leadership that embodied your strength of character. Prior military men like yourself who once valued accountability, learned to "survive" in a corrupt City as public servants by making hard choices to either play it the corrupt way or segregate themselves from the bad apples by keeping their careers minimized to basic levels so as not to rock the boats.
Sadly, the world of corruption that permeated our community kept you from being the person you should have been. The lack of accountability of the public servant sector made many of us pay lots of fines. I wish you could have been arresting those frauds at City Hall and at the County Levels who violated the public at large with their community development plans, misappropriation of funds, and pay to play games with areas such as building & housing from A-Z.
It's all politics. I wonder if you ever imagined that the people had desired untainted, hard core, accountable leadership more than they wanted politicians in their pockets? I know that "0" Tolerance people and "do-gooders" become targets of the mafia for disrupting illegal activities. They can ultimately end up "floating in the river" if they are not careful and don't learn to pay to play quickly.
Heck, since we have worked diligently to disrupt the corruption, can we interest you in the position of Mayor in Cleveland during the next election? Perhaps you'd bring a considerable new perspective to this City since you've been a grunt for so long.... Smiles.
Ultimately, I want to Thank You for your service to our great city, Cleveland, Ohio. You'll forever be an icon in our hometown. When you retire; will they retire your car number or even put it in the CPD Museum? I think that would be a grand salute to your service.
Jimmy, thanks for always trying to give realistic help through the years when called upon regarding police matters. Thanks for all the tickets you charted to keep this City in Business. Thanks for the very few concessions you did make along your path as a patrolman. Thanks for remaining unyielding to certain scenarios. Thanks for your inspiration to countless kids who look up to you. Thanks for dedicating your career to Ward 14 of the City of Cleveland, Ohio and 2nd District....Cleveland's Finest Police Station.
The delightful memories of seeing your lights lit up behind another car during your target enforcement stops (knowing you were too busy to give us a ticket), seeing you at the police station, or bumping into you at the Justice Center seem to fading into time. Prayerfully the new generations of cops will offer our community the same consideration that you always brought to our 'hood.
BEST WISHES IN ALL OF YOUR ENDEAVORS! May God Bless!
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Saluting your Service!
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