From the 2/28/07 Enquirer:

 

 

Body armor for Citizens on Patrol?

THE ENQUIRER

 

Volunteers who walk Cincinnati streets as members of Citizens on Patrol could one day be doing their rounds wearing bullet-resistant vests.

 

City Councilman Cecil Thomas, chairman of council's Law and Public Safety Committee and a former police officer, asked the city administration Tuesday to research the possibility of buying body armor for the volunteers.

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20070228/NEWS01/702280383/

 

From the 3/3/07 Enquirer:

 

 

Fangman won't be charged over calls

BY KIMBALL PERRY | [email protected]

 

Cincinnati Police Officer Keith Fangman won't face criminal charges for making hang-up telephone calls to the head of Cincinnati's police union, but he has been assigned to a new job.

 

Fangman, former head of the Queen City Fraternal Order of Police local union, admitted to The Enquirer he made hang-up calls to Spc. Kathy Harrell, the current head of the city police union.

 

That admission came after Harrell contacted police about the calls - which her attorney said included heavy breathing and an adult movie soundtrack in the background.

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070303/NEWS01/703030397/1056/COL02

 

From Cincinnati.com, 3/9/07:

 

 

East Price Hill Improvement Association Wins City Honor

Contributed By Linda Parker | Cincinnati.com/NKY.com

 

The East Price Hill Improvement Association (EPHIA) was honored by the City of Cincinnati at the Neighborhood Summit kickoff dinner Jan. 19 at Xavier University

 

EPHIA was honored for excellence in the Crime & Safety category.

 

Much of this work is coordinated by EPHIA Recording Secretary Patti Hogan. EPHIA President Dan Boller said, "Patti organizes a community walk every other week in two designated areas for concentrated efforts.

 

http://rodeo.cincinnati.com/getlocal/gpstory.aspx?id=100163&sid=108066

 

From the 3/9/07 Enquirer:

 

 

Keep 'Strangler' locked up, panel recommends

BY SHARON COOLIDGE | [email protected]

 

The man known as the Cincinnati Strangler should be kept in prison, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction officials determined after a parole hearing this week.

 

A hearing officer and parole board member who heard Posteal Laskey's bid for release referred their recommendation to the state's nine-member parole board.

 

Seven of those members are expected to meet Tuesday. They can confirm the decision or recommend Laskey be released.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20070209/NEWS01/702090395/

 

21 arrested in Lincoln Heights riot

BY JENNIFER BAKER AND KIMBALL PERRY | [email protected]; [email protected]

March 14, 2007

 

LINCOLN HEIGHTS - A total of 21 people - including six juveniles - were arrested Tuesday night in what police describe as a riot in this Hamilton County village.

 

Police said today that they were called about 6:30 p.m. to break up fights in a residential neighborhood at the corner of Jackson and Douglas streets.

 

There were also reports of shots fired in the melee, but no weapons were recovered, they said.

 

The crowd refused to obey officers' commands to stop, so they called in backup from other agencies and began making arrests.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS01/303140018

I'm not sure the above article belongs in a thread about Cincinnati crime.

I concur

While the event did not occur in the technical boundary limits of Cincinnati, it still occured in Cincinnati's built form.  I would also include news from such places as: St. Bernard, Elmwood Place, Columbia Twp, N. College Hill, Silverton, Arlington Heights, Lockland, and Lincoln Heights.  Sure these places are technically outside of Cincinnati proper...but they are (in all reality) neighborhoods of the City of Cincinnati.

From the 3/13/07 Enquirer:

 

 

Short Vine on edge after recent crimes

Businesses worry shootings will ruin neighborhood's reputation

BY KIMBALL PERRY | [email protected]

 

Inside his Vine Street business, Sam Lieu looks up, squints and rushes to his 10-foot-tall front window.

 

Once there, he slowly touches the glass before sighing with relief. The blemish was a large piece of opaque tape on the window, something Lieu thought was a bullet hole - another bullet hole.

 

Lieu, owner of Nail Depot in the 2600 block of Vine, is one of a growing number of people living and working in that part of Corryville who worry crime - or the perception of it - is ruining the neighborhood.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20070313/NEWS01/703130421/

 

While the event did not occur in the technical boundary limits of Cincinnati, it still occured in Cincinnati's built form.  I would also include news from such places as: St. Bernard, Elmwood Place, Columbia Twp, N. College Hill, Silverton, Arlington Heights, Lockland, and Lincoln Heights.  Sure these places are technically outside of Cincinnati proper...but they are (in all reality) neighborhoods of the City of Cincinnati.

 

Well if that's the case then let's re-title this thread: "Cincinnati's Built Form: Crime Discussion." 

^Do you guys need a tissue to cry about it.  I love that a lot of people want to think on a more regional level and get all the communities on the same page....but only when its convenient.

 

You are aware that the 'Cincinnati Restaurants: Openings, Closings, & Relocations' thread quite often times has news about places that are technically outside of the city limits...and you even see posts about businesses in Butler County.  I see no b!tching in that thread...

Boston Project to start here, council decides

BY JANE PRENDERGAST | [email protected]

March 15, 2007

 

CINCINNATI - A project credited with curbing violence in Boston in the 1990s is headed for Cincinnati.

 

City Manager Milton Dohoney will start negotiating a contract with David Kennedy, the criminologist who developed the Boston Gun Project, and the University of Cincinnati. City Council members - who set aside $750,000 during budgeting for an anti-violence project - voted Wednesday to authorize Dohoney to work out a contract.

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070315/NEWS01/703150396/1056/COL02

Do you guys need a tissue to cry about it.  I love that a lot of people want to think on a more regional level and get all the communities on the same page....but only when its convenient.

 

Wait a tic.  The inverse is also true.  Maximilian jumps on me all the time when I refer to places like OTR as downtown for the purposes of development.  No one wants to take credit for crime that happens outside of our borders otherwise start including stats from Amberly, Mason etc to offset some of the negatives.  Built form? should we start including Covington, Newport etc?  When did we start using this as a definition of what is and is not in a cities limits?

 

but only when its convenient.

You do understand the difference in a restaurant or business opening/closing and what has been described as a 'riot' with gunfire?  This is less a matter of convenience and more one of common sense.

 

Has anyone noticed the lack of crime in OTR?  There was a time, not so long ago, that I did not turn on the radio in the morning and hear "man shot on Republic" or any other street OTR.  37% down, and still falling, this is the real story.  Dist 1, Sherriffs, Vortex, Citizens on Patrol, and CPOP have all done a tremendous job in turning the situation in OTR around, they have done a wonderful job and even more is coming.

I think it great that crime in OTR is decreasing and should help the revitalization of the area. Unfortunately what happens in most communities is the crime just increases in another location. In Cincy's case and most other major cities in the US right now, crime is still on the rise. Is Cincy more dangerous than its peer cities (Columbus, Indy, Charlotte), NO, is crime a problem in all these cities, YES. Many times it’s where the crimes are taking place that determines how dangerous a city is perceived. One of the best ways to fight the perceived crime problem is to first insure that the downtown is safe and that it has people on its streets after 5:00.

Unfortunately what happens in most communities is the crime just increases in another location

 

There is no doubt that this is happening.  We will never be able eliminate crime, we will simply eliminate where crime occurs by not tolerating it. 

 

One of the best ways to fight the perceived crime problem is to first insure that the downtown is safe and that it has people on its streets after 5:00.

 

Agreed, and anyone who has lived anywhere close to downtown over the past few years can tell the difference on the streets.  We still have a long ways to go but the combination of increased enforcement and development, this is the best opportunity that OTR has ever had.

You do understand the difference in a restaurant or business opening/closing and what has been described as a 'riot' with gunfire?  This is less a matter of convenience and more one of common sense.

 

Forget the specifics of the story I posted...but let me get this straight; when a restaurant and/or business opens in Mason its considered Cincinnati News, but when a crime occurs in Lincoln Heights then it is Lincoln Heights news...not Cincinnati.

 

Or when a development project is going on in say Anderson Twp...it is posted under Random Cincinnati Projects, and thats ok by your standards??

 

I just don't get it, we claim that all these other things that occur (business growth, developments, etc) are in Cincinnati and are in Cincinnati discussion threads...and thats ok.  But as soon I as post a crime event that took place in Lincoln Heights (most lehman wouldn't even know thats a separate entity and would consider it Cincinnati) its out of bounds.

 

What am I missing here  :wtf:

you can post anything, anywhere as far as I am concerned, that wasn't what I was getting at.  Perhaps it is unfair or misrepresentative, but I would like to separate "Cincinnati" from the word "riot" anytime I can.  I am much more liberal when it comes to development.  To me, this is common sense, to you perhaps it is convenient, but to the media it is an opportunity.

 

we claim that all these other things that occur (business growth, developments, etc) are in Cincinnati and are in Cincinnati discussion threads...and thats OK.  But as soon I as post a crime event that took place in Lincoln Heights (most lehman wouldn't even know thats a separate entity and would consider it Cincinnati) its out of bounds.

 

Exactly.

I would prefer separate threads both for positive and negative articles.

 

Many laypeople may think that Lincoln Heights is part of the city of Cincinnati, perhaps due in small part to lazy journalism.  Commendably, here the Enquirer did refer to it as "a Hamilton County village" and used the correct dateline, "Lincoln Heights."  In the case of Lincoln Heights, the reason many people wouldn't know off the top of their head that it is its own city is that Lincoln Heights is a predominantly black community and most whites don't give a shit about where blacks live (as long as it's not their neighborhood) and so don't care to make the distinction.

i'm pissed that somebody just got shot on my street, the first day after i moved into a better neighborhood.

FOP opposes new sheriff patrols

BY JOE WESSELS | CINCINNATI POST

March 23, 2007

 

CINCINNATI - Plans are in the works to extend Hamilton County Sheriff's patrols into a second Cincinnati neighborhood, but the head of the city's police union said it would try to block such an initiative.

 

"We would file an unfair labor practices complaint," said Kathy Harrell, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Queen City Lodge No. 69, of a proposal to send deputies into Avondale, one of the city's most troubled areas, on a regular basis. "I would look at it as union busting."

 

City Council Member Cecil Thomas, a retired police officer, is among those advocating the patrols.

 

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070323/NEWS01/703230379

I welcome both.  They have jointly done nothing short of a miracle in OTR.  Part 1 Crime in OTR down 52.4% from Feb 06-07, during the same time calls for service down 27.3%.

 

We need all of the help we can get so I hope that the bickering at the higher level stops because bottom line, CPD and the Sherriffs can help one another on what has proved to be an insurmountable crime problem until now.

^I couldn't agree with you more!  On top of the miraculous work that they have done...its another step towards regional cooperation.  In all honesty it would make the most sense to have one police department for the entire county...instead of the multitude of departments that currently exist.

 

I would welcome this move with open arms...hopefully the FOP comes to her senses!

Can you believe this BS??!!!

 

From the Cincinnati.com politics blog..................

 

No Boston for Cincinnati?

 

Mayor Mark Mallory's a little frustrated at what he sees is a holdup by some City Council members of the effort to replicate The Boston Gun Project in Cincinnati. The program, credited with reducing homicides in Boston in the mid-1990s, identifies gang-involved repeat offenders and puts them on notice that if they don't get out of the criminal life, officials will "pursue the longest amount of (prison) time in the worst place possible," the mayor said.

 

Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr.'s working out a contract with the University of Cincinnati, where policing experts will help. Subcontracts will be signed with the architect of the Boston project - David Kennedy, now at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City - and with Children's Hospital Medical Center. The hospital is the "neutral convener" of the all the parties involved and trauma surgeon Dr. Victor Garcia will be the chairman of the steering committee. He has been pushing to bring the Boston model here for years.

 

Council authorized Dohoney to start working out the details March 14, but decided they didn't want to give the city manager a deadline. Councilman Cecil Thomas, chairman of council's

Law and Public Safety Committee who brought the authorization measure to council, wanted the negotiations finished in the first week of April. Councilwoman Laketa Cole also asked that council see the contract and approve it first.

 

Mallory is frustrated by those delays. He said Kennedy is close to pulling out of the deal and going instead to one of many other cities where people want him. The UC researchers need a couple of months to organize the program and identify the players before the actual street work - Garcia wanted that started by summer - can begin.

 

Mallory told The Enquirer's editorial board this week: "I just need everyone to understand that we've got to move on here."

 

Garcia acknowledged a "palpable frustration" growing within him and Kennedy.

 

He offered this statistic: the average age of a gunshot victim seen at Children's: 12.9 years.

 

posted by Jane Prendergast at 3/23/2007 04:02:00 PM  0 comments links to this post

 

Looks like UO needs to start emailing Thomas and Cole and tell them to stop micro managing this.  Everybody ran on a reduce crime platform but now the opportunity comes to actually fulfill that promise and they do everything they can to stop the progress of having their goal accomplished.

 

Simply amazing!!!!

Both from the 3/25/07 Enquirer:

 

 

City police: Computers unreliable

Administrators say new towers should end service outages

BY JANE PRENDERGAST | [email protected]

 

Almost a decade after Hamilton County voters approved a tax levy to buy police cruiser computers for all 44 police forces, the biggest department - Cincinnati - reports the computers don't always work.

 

Some officers complain that they can be headed to a call and look at the screen only to find it has gone blank, killing out information they need, such as the address they're headed to, the type of incident and any warnings about officer safety. To retrieve the details, they have to log on again, a process they don't have time for when they're in a hurry.

 

 

Reporter Jessica Brown contributed to this story.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS01/703250354/-1/rss

---

* PHOTO: Larry Smith allegedly reached into Tarbell's car and smacked the Cincinnati City Councilman in the face with his own cell phone. THE ENQUIRER

 

Tarbell sends man to jail

Council member scuffles outside nightspot with 'rascal'

BY KIMBALL PERRY | [email protected]

 

What was supposed to be a nice night out Friday for Cincinnati Council Member Jim Tarbell turned into a fistfight in the street, landing a man behind bars.

 

About 7:30 Friday night, Tarbell was heading to Kaldi's Coffee House and Bookstore in Over-the-Rhine, about two blocks from Tarbell's home in the adjacent neighborhood of Pendleton.

 

"Things were a little bit slow, so we decided to stir it up," Tarbell quipped Saturday.

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20070325/NEWS01/703250348/

 

Tarbell is a BEAST. The man is 64 years old fighting criminals haha.

Continued progress in OTR:

 

Chris Zimmerman has done an amazing job turning the Shell station around, and more good things are in the works.  This is hopefully going to be a positive approach that we will try with other business owners in the neighborhood.

 

http://www.local12.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=16178

^ Thanks for the link.  At the end they said they were going to hire an architect to upgrade the site and building to better match the neighborhood, and that the market at Garfield and Vine was going to do the same.  That is great news.

^ Thanks for the link.  At the end they said they were going to hire an architect to upgrade the site and building to better match the neighborhood, and that the market at Garfield and Vine was going to do the same.  That is great news.

 

Actually, I'm the architect he hired.  We have developed plans for the site and have done a preliminary design review with the Historic Conservation Board, which went great.  I've been waiting to announce anything until Chris gave the final go ahead, which might not happen for a while.

That is great news! I never in a million years would have seen that Shell station as being anything but a problem.  Perhaps the best part is that he's making money which I agree makes this an example to cite with other business owners throughout the neighborhood and the entire city.  Kudos to mcmicken and all involved!

Actually, I'm the architect he hired.  We have developed plans for the site and have done a preliminary design review with the Historic Conservation Board, which went great.  I've been waiting to announce anything until Chris gave the final go ahead, which might not happen for a while.

How much influence does Shell have on the plans ?

That is great news! I never in a million years would have seen that Shell station as being anything but a problem.  Perhaps the best part is that he's making money which I agree makes this an example to cite with other business owners throughout the neighborhood and the entire city.  Kudos to mcmicken and all involved!

A lot of props go to Michael Redmond.  He led the way to bring everyone to the table to agree to things beforehand, and made sure that a balance was struck between the neighborhood's requests and Chris's need to run a profitable business.

 

How much influence does Shell have on the plans ?

Mostly the canopy and some of the signage.  I'm not in a position to post anything yet, but as soon as I can I will.

I think that it is ironic that the one person (well 1 of 2) that were so against it was the one featured in the news story.  Ty along with Myra Greenburg sat right next to me in District 1 and threatened to hold up the liquor license so that he could have input into design.  He wanted to debate setback and ingress and egress points at a liquor license meeting, Halusec himself had to bring him back to the topic at hand.  Myra was just flat out against it regardless and had dismissed Steve (McMicken), who lives closer to this than anyone and tried to have me dismissed from the meeting (that just wasn't going to happen).

 

This agreement was ironed out by Mulberry/McMicken Safety Sector, the sector that the Shell Station actually is in.  Pendleton, in classic Pendleton style tried to hamstring this.  Chris Zimmerman and other business owners like him should be embraced by the community and supported in any and everyway we can.  The decision to destroy the crack pipes was his, he had done this before we ever met him.  The idea of doing a non binding agreement was Captain Jones and he has been advocating this for a couple of years now.

 

It is just ironic that when all of the back and forth is going on and the one group who was just "insane" in the whole thing is the first one's who will jump out to take credit for it.  I want everyone to know and remember that it was not the community that went to Chris, It was Chris who went to the community.  Support him, buy gas, and thank him if you see him on the lot because he is proving to be a great neighbor.

Seems Cecil Thomas response to everything is more law - less freedom.

Man is a psychopath.

I don't know about a psychopath ;) but the man is ineffective at best.  Overshadowed in the recent budget debate is the fact that Police and Fire take up about two thirds of the budget yet we hear nothing about gaining efficiencies in either one.  Seems like something Law and Public Safety could address....  After the neighborhood officer program was expanded (according to Chief Streicher) or terminated (according to everybody else) many neighborhoods were outraged.  Seems like something Law and Public Safety could address....  When the surveillance camera project was abruptly terminated after literally thousands of volunteer hours with no word from the city, people were angry.  Seems like something Law and Public Safety could address....  The Municipal Court system sucks, victims and police officers spend hours in court, multiple days, while criminals and their defense attorneys game the system and try to win by attrition costing us city dollars and faith in the justice system.  Seems like something Law and Public Safety could address....

Instead they close steps and ratchet up penalties for pot.  I guess the upside is that the current committee has proven itself worthless and we should probably be glad they aren't making substantive decisions.

None of this should overshadow the people and groups who are working so hard improve their neighborhoods and decrease crime at a grassroots level like Michael Redmond, Chris Zimmerman, and people like them in other neighborhoods as well as the numerous police personel below command staff level who realize that this community collaboration thing can be a real asset to the police as well.  The downside is that if you live in a community without those people, and you can't or won't step up yourself, you're kinda screwed.  Not to beat a dead horse, but that seems like something Law and Public Safety could address....

From the 3/28/07 Enquirer:

 

 

Family struggles with 2nd killing

BY EILEEN KELLEY | [email protected]

 

For the second time in two weeks, Annie Brantley has had to say goodbye to a relative killed by gun violence in Cincinnati.

 

She learned Tuesday her nephew Michael Brantley, 28, had been shot to death. Her second cousin, Michael Barber, 28, was killed March 13.

 

Both homicide cases are open.

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20070328/NEWS01/303280043/

 

From the 3/29/07 Enquirer:

 

 

7 arrested in downtown attacks

BY EILEEN KELLEY | [email protected]

 

Cincinnati police have arrested seven teenagers over the past several days for various assaults and robberies downtown.

 

The ages of those arrested range from 14 to 18.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20070329/NEWS01/303290048/

 

From the 3/30/07 Enquirer:

 

 

Teens bring crime downtown

At least six victimized by truants; police promise more arrests on way

BY EILEEN KELLEY | [email protected]

 

DOWNTOWN - A group of teens has been roaming city streets in recent days intimidating, sucker-punching and in some cases robbing unsuspecting people downtown.

 

As of Friday afternoon, police had arrested 13 teens for the crimes, said Lt. Tom Lanter of the Cincinnati Police Department. Its excellent police work, Lanter said.

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20070330/NEWS01/703300418/

 

Troubled OTR sees better day

BY JOE WESSELS | CINCINNATI POST

March 31, 2007

 

CINCINNATI - Crime in both downtown Cincinnati and Over-the-Rhine has dropped dramatically in the past year, the latest police statistics show.

 

Serious crimes - murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft - dropped 22.7 percent downtown from 2005 to 2006 and 14.4 percent in Over-the-Rhine, according to Cincinnati Police statistics.

 

"Wow," said John Eck, a University of Cincinnati professor who specializes in crime statistics analysis. "That's quite dramatic."

 

 

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070331/NEWS02/703310334

Both from the 4/2/07 Enquirer:

 

 

Bridge attack suspect to stand trial

BY SHARON COOLIDGE | [email protected]

 

The man accused of ending a three-day crime spree with the abduction and rape of a woman at the Purple People Bridge last November understands the court process and can go to trial, three experts have agreed.

 

Based on those findings, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Fred Nelson today found Fernando Lee North competent.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070402/NEWS01/304020019/-1/rss

---

Canine unit adds two new dogs

THE ENQUIRER

 

When Toyota gives $5,000 to buy a police dog, the dog gets the name of a Toyota product.

 

So meet Tundra, one of Cincinnatis newest police dogs. He started training today.

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20070402/NEWS01/304020057/

 

UPDATE

Crime Wave Hits Home For Residents Of Tri-state Street

 

Reported by: Jenell Walton

Web produced by: Neil Relyea

Photographed by: 9News

First posted: 1/9/2007 8:33:17 PM

 

One neighbor found their car set on fire. A bullet whistled through another's bedroom window.

A group of residents on Mulberry Street in Over-the-Rhine says the crime is getting out of hand and they want it stopped before someone is seriously hurt.

Mulberry Street is relatively quiet. It sits next to Mt. Auburn in Over-the-Rhine just off Vine Street.

But residents say lately they've seen a gang of teenagers roam up and down the hill breaking into cars and robbing some of their neighbors.

"I was robbed at gunpoint in front of my house and I had a gun put to my head with my kids sleeping upstairs," Christopher Rose, a resident, told 9News.

Rose convinced his wife to stay after he was robbed last year, but he says even a breathtaking view of the city from their deck won't be enough to convince her to stay this time.

He says the dream of raising his daughters here was shattered when a bullet went through their bedroom window on New Year's Eve.

"It was a random bullet," said Rose, "but the fact that our kids, we're raising two little girls there, and now everyone on the street is afraid to come out in the streets just to go to their cars."

Talena Geer's van was destroyed by vandals last Friday.

She says her daughter heard the commotion outside.

"She saw them fire shots and throw something at my van and next thing I know it was flames," Geer told 9News. "So she ran upstairs and got me out of bed like, 'Mama, Mama. Somebody just set your van on fire!'"

Geer says she just moved on Mulberry a short time ago, but she says after her vehicle was set on fire, she's now thinking about moving -- and she's not alone.

"My wife's looking for places to live now," said Rose. "It's disturbing."

That's exactly what developer, Joe Gorman, doesn't want to hear.

He's planning to build some new homes on a wooded lot there.

"It's very disconcerting to do new construction," said Gorman. "Get new people moving into the street and then have this crime wave. It's kind of like stopping our progress."

Gorman believes the suspects are a group of teens who need someone to reach out and help them.

He says he has no plans to move. He and his other neighbors are meeting with police on Wednesday to discuss the crime problem.

http://wcpo.com/news/2007/local/01/09/mulberry.html

 

The armed robber, caught on the street by the residents within 24 hours, positively identified, trial and conviction.

Case closed.

 

The lady whos car was set fire, turns out it was an old boyfriend.  Not a random act.

 

Car breakins have stopped (they can always come back anywhere, anytime) we believe it was stemming from a person picked up and arrested in Pendleton.

 

The bullet in the ceiling, random gunfire at New Years, happened in a lot of places and unfortunatly we have our share of idiots still in OTR.

 

And CPOP is about to begin some of our operations in conjunction with Vortex on E Clifton, Peete, Mulberry, Rice, Loth, Thill,.  The first CPOP to cross district lines.

'Boston plan' up for a vote

Children's Medical Center to pay portion of costs

BY JANE PRENDERGAST | [email protected]

April 4, 2007

 

DOWNTOWN - Copying a Boston anti-violence plan in Cincinnati could start with a City Council vote today, now that concerns about cost have been alleviated.

 

Some council members did not want to spend the approximately $150,000 originally proposed to hire Dr. Victor Garcia, a Children's Hospital Medical Center trauma surgeon, to shepherd the local program, called the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence.

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/NEWS01/704040404/1056/COL02

And the results...

 

City OKs funds for anti-violence plan

BY JANE PRENDERGAST | [email protected]

April 4, 2007

 

CINCINNATI - Crime and sociology researchers at the University of Cincinnati can start now on Cincinnati’s version of an anti-crime plan credited with reducing killings in Boston in the 1990s.

 

City Council members voted unanimously Wednesday to spend $353,000 on the first piece of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence. The contract pays the money to UC, with Children’s Hospital Medical Center and David Kennedy, founder of the Boston Gun Project, as subcontractors.

 

Among the salaries: $55,000 to Dr. Victor Garcia, a Children’s trauma surgeon credited with initiating contact with Kennedy years ago, long before council members got involved. Garcia will be what he called a “neutral convener” of the CIRV governing board.

 

His pay – originally about $100,000 higher, council member said – had been a sticking point. Some council members were concerned about paying so much in administrative costs while the community part of the program is still be worked out. But the $353,000 contract still leaves more than $400,000 left of the $750,000 council set aside for a youth anti-violence project.

 

Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz still had money-related questions Wednesday, including who would be the program director, who is slated to earn $70,000. That person has not been hired yet.

 

Kennedy, who started the gun project while at Harvard but has since moved to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, will be paid $50,000 plus $27,000 for him to travel here monthly beginning this month.

 

The contract covers from now through March 2008, with an option for a one-year renewal.

 

In Boston, Kennedy’s project is credited with reducing homicides in the mid- to late 1990s among victims 24 and younger. Critics of the program say it didn’t last, that crime has escalated again in Boston. But Kennedy says the uptick started because officials there didn’t stick with the plan once it started to show initial success.

 

Councilwoman Laketa Cole said she would soon introduce the second piece of the plan – “a grass-roots component” that will involve sending street workers to neighborhoods to reach out to young people personally.

 

“The good news,” Councilman John Cranley said, “is we’re not trying to do the same thing over and over and over again. It’s exciting to be doing something different.”

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/NEWS01/304040059

Shocking Pattern

Citizen Complaint Authority urged to study police use of stun guns

BY MARGO PIERCE | [email protected]

 

CINCINNATI - The number of black men dying in police custody in Cincinnati is down. That's important, according to Al Gerhardstein, one of the plaintiff's attorneys in the Collaborative Agreement on Police/Community Relations. But stopping the killings isn't all that's involved in ending inappropriate police violence, he says.

 

Gerhardstein addressed the board of the Citizen Complaint Authority (CCA), created as part of the Collaborative Agreement, on March 5.

 

http://www.citybeat.com/current/news.shtml

From UC News, 4/4/07:

 

 

UC Experts Set to Help City Fight Rising Homicide Problem

Experts from UC's Division of Criminal Justice will hold two of the four key leadership positions in CIRV the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence a new program approved by City Council that takes methodologies proven successful in other cities and applies them to Cincinnati's dynamic.

Date: 4/4/2007

By: Carey Hoffman

Phone: (513) 556-1825

 

A new project led by experts from UCs Division of Criminal Justice will assist police, community members and social service providers in reducing homicides in Cincinnati.

 

Associate Professor Robin Engel and Professor John Eck both from UCs criminal justice faculty and the UC Policing Institute are working with Dr. Victor Garcia, the director of Trauma Services at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center, and Professor David Kennedy from John Jay College of Criminal Justice to implement the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV).

 

http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=5580

 

Also, there is no support from the CPD for Councilman Cecil Thomas's idea of body armor for Citizens on Patrol (COPs).  Thomas introduced a motion in the Law & Public Safety Committee on February 23.

 

Patrol officers think that body armor might give COPs a false sense of security and they might take more risks, thereby putting themselves in danger.

 

CPD also cites other police departments and their reasons for not providing body armor to their COPs.  The reasons are the same as above.  COPs who don't feel safe confronting a situation are encouraged not to patrol.

 

The cost of body armor for one person is about $560.  There are 800 COPs.  That would cost nearly half a million dollars, which just doesn't make budgetary sense.

 

Also, there is no support from the CPD for Councilman Cecil Thomas's idea of body armor for Citizens on Patrol (COPs).  Thomas introduced a motion in the Law & Public Safety Committee on February 23.

 

Patrol officers think that body armor might give COPs a false sense of security and they might take more risks, thereby putting themselves in danger.

 

CPD also cites other police departments and their reasons for not providing body armor to their COPs.  The reasons are the same as above.  COPs who don't feel safe confronting a situation are encouraged not to patrol.

 

The cost of body armor for one person is about $560.  There are 800 COPs.  That would cost nearly half a million dollars, which just doesn't make budgetary sense.

 

 

Active COP members also provided feedback, and the majority of us has the same recommendation.  One of our strengths is that we are citizens and therefore more accessible to the general public.  Adding vests moves us closer to being police, which is not what we are.  It's also a bit ridiculous in the fact that I don't need a bulletproof vest when walking down the street every day, but suddenly I do when I'm walking down the same street while on patrol.

 

I think the intent was good, but no one on CPD or on COP was consulted before raising this issue before council.

Flashcams by the way are a motion activated camera that takes a single shot of anyone who crosses its path. 

So am I going to be blinded by this flashcam?  Since this is my walking findlay market path I don't want to be blinded  by the flash fall down drop my eggs and then have my pic posted on urbanohio for everyone to giggle at?

So am I going to be blinded by this flashcam?

No, you will be blinded by the flash grenade, that is the next step if the cams do not work.

I have moved the stuff about the closing of the Collins Ave steps over here:

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=6853.0

 

This is the "Steps of Cincinnati" thread from City Photos that I have moved over to Transportation.  Hopefully it will spur discussion about the Cincinnati public steps network in general.

 

Cincinnati gets river patrol boat

BY JANE PRENDERGAST | [email protected]

April 9, 2007

 

CINCINNATI - Cincinnati police hope to be patrolling in a new area by Memorial Day: the Ohio River.

 

Thanks to $141,000 in Homeland Security money, the department bought a 23-foot Sea Ark boat. On it, officers will do some monitoring of bridges and shoreline for the federal agency, but also will do boating safety and law enforcement, including watching for drunken boaters.

 

Yes, people drinking on the water will have to watch out well be looking for that, said Sgt. Bill Halusek, who has been getting the new Marine Patrol set up. Its good P.R. too. And its not costing us anything.

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070409/NEWS01/304090039

It is just ironic that when all of the back and forth is going on and the one group who was just "insane" in the whole thing is the first one's who will jump out to take credit for it.  I want everyone to know and remember that it was not the community that went to Chris, It was Chris who went to the community.  Support him, buy gas, and thank him if you see him on the lot because he is proving to be a great neighbor.

 

It has come to my attention that some people (and I will not name names) are upset about my portrayal of the facts in this and a school story case.  I would like to address these concerns openly, publicly and fairly. 

 

First, let me begin by saying one of the greatest things I have found on this site is the ability to interact with others who have more information on a topic.  Traditional news outlets do not give you that chance, most of the time you sit back, listen, and take the new's accounting as both factual and complete, yet rarely is this the case.  UrbanOhio gives everyone a chance to add to or correct information that is put out in the news.  And in the addition or correction by members of the forum, people who disagree with the facts as presented by a forumer, can interject and refute the new information.

 

For far to long, OTR and other surrounding communities have had organizations who on the surface appear to want to help the community by doing what is necessary to foster new home ownership and business attraction.  However, some of these same organizations have, over the years, hendered the very development that they claim to want to bring about.  When information, complete information, is put out for the public cosumption, these groups get angry, they claim that they are being defamed and take action to, not refute the facts presented, but to get others to quiet the information.

 

I will make everyone a deal. I will not stop writing about the true events that take place in situations that I am directly involved in.  I will not stop correcting inaccuracies or adding to media reports that I know more information about.  However I will refrain from using anyones name, I will speak in generalities and only site the organizations they may be affiliated with.  That being said, if their name appears in the media report, they are fair game as far as I am concerned.  If they are willing to put themselves out as a public figure to one outlet, they need to be prepared to be treated as such in other outlets as well.

 

I invite anyone who feels that I have misrepresented the facts to sign on (you can even use an alias) and refute me, correct me, or flat out tell me I am mistaken.  I welcome a debate, I welcome your version of the facts, and I look forward to hearing from you directly as opposed to a disinterested third party.