Why Not Support Police Reform?

If the Cincinnati Police Department is deficient in terms of race relations, policies on use of force and even such mundane matters as regulating overtime and off-duty details, isn’t it conceivable that it also needs reform in the way it performs its core mission, namely fighting crime? You wouldn’t know it from listening to local Republicans, who are lining up to argue that city council is the reason the police don’t do a better job. Last week Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters held forth.

“People need to be able to do what is necessary to protect our citizens, free from the ‘blame the police first’ crowd at City Hall,” Deters said, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Then came Leslie Ghiz, GOP candidate for council, criticizing council incumbents for overruling the police department’s opposition to renewal of a liquor license for a bar in Bond Hill. Ghiz also faulted council for removing, at residents’ request, a barricade police had erected on 13th Street to combat drug dealing.

“Here you have six members of council who believe that they know more about solving crime than our police officers who patrol our streets on a daily basis,” Ghiz said. “Our city would be better served if council stopped the practice of micromanaging our police department.”

Supporting police is a fine thing so far as it goes. Citizens ought to also support street cleaners, parking meter attendants and road repair crews.

But isn’t city council supposed to oversee the operation and demand a high level of service?

State Sen. Mark Mallory, a Democratic candidate for mayor, has also joined the chorus. But at least he insists that police answer to elected officials.

“City council should not dictate crime-fighting plans to the police department,” he says. “They should find out from the police department what tools they need to reduce crime, give them those tools, hold them accountable and let them do their jobs.”

Next thing you know some bright light will come up with ribbons — purple, no doubt — saying, “Support the Police.” The yellow ribbons that say “Support Our Troops” have been so effective in winning the war in Iraq that the idea just might work.

Learn from the Streets
Or Cincinnati could take a lesson from a feisty community organization called the Contact Center. Never shy about criticizing police for their perceived neglect of Over-the-Rhine, the Contact Center recently made sure city officials also heard from its members when they saw improvement. On June 9, representatives of the police department, city council, Over-the-Rhine Block Clubs and the Contact Center gathered at Race and Green streets to celebrate council’s approval of funding for more police patrols.

Council voted May 25 to allocate $1.2 million in unexpected earnings taxes to the police department for extra walking and bicycle patrols. Block club participants presented the Golden Shoe Award to District 1 neighborhood officers, District 1 Capt. James Whalen and some of the council members who supported the motion.

“The golden shoes symbolize the fact that police will be walking the beat at every drug and violence hot spot in Over the Rhine,” said Zach Fisher of the Contact Center.

Hardly a major political force, the Contact Center has nonetheless made enough noise about its neighborhood’s needs that the city finally responded.

“Block club leaders had previously been concerned that all residents were not getting the equal protection from police that areas with higher incomes and business frequented by people with higher incomes were receiving,” Fisher said.

At the celebration June 9, Councilman Christopher Smitherman told a crowd of about 30 that if the extra patrols are to make any difference, the community must get serious about helping police and standing up to drug dealers. He knows it won’t be easy.

“Retaliation is real,” Smitherman said. “We’re going to have to ask our African-American men to step up.”

Councilman and mayoral candidate David Pepper said the extra walking patrols shouldn’t be a cause for celebration but a daily given. He hopes to work them into the city’s policing budget, he said.

Sgt. Maris Herold, head of District 1’s community orientated policing, told the crowd that she hopes to eradicate the drug trafficking that’s taken over the four surrounding blocks.

“Usually there are tons of drug traffickers out here, but because the shareholders are out today you don’t see any,” she said.

Contrast the Contact Center’s approach with the Republicans’ sloganeering, and you get a better idea of what effective police-community relations can produce. Civilian control of police isn’t only mandated by the constitution — it also makes for safer streets.

This article appears in Jun 29 – Jul 5, 2005.