With a current budget proposal pending before Cincinnati City Council calling for laying off up to 112 police officers, police supervisors are working on a new plan for responding to calls for service.
The plan, dubbed the Police Differential Response Program, is an attempt to reduce the number of calls for service that the department responds to on a daily basis. Under the plan, police won’t send a patrol car for certain types of calls.—-
Cincinnati Police respond to about 300,000 calls annually. With the changes, that’s expected to reduce dispatches by 22,500 calls, or 7 percent.
The changes take effect Jan. 1.
Among the types of call affected are those for panhandling, prostitution, drug investigations and theft.
Here’s the complete list of offenses involved:
**Animal Complaints — Officers won’t be dispatched if the animal isn’t aggressive and poses no immediate danger. The complainant will be referred to the SPCA or the neighborhood liaison.
** Criminal Damage in Progress — Officers will continue to be dispatched to offenses in progress. Officers won’t be dispatched when the suspect is no longer on-scene.
** Drug Investigation — Officers won’t be dispatched. The complainant will be referred to Central Vice Control Section. Communications will make a general broadcast and a new incident type will be added to collect necessary data.
** Fireworks Complaint — Officers won’t be dispatched. Communications will make a general broadcast.
** Property Found — Officers won’t be dispatched unless the found property is a weapon or contraband. Otherwise, the complainant will be referred to the neighborhood liaison officer, who will coordinate retrieval of the property.
** Juvenile Complaint — Officers won’t be dispatched. The complainant will be referred to the neighborhood liaison officer.
** Property Lost — Officers won’t be dispatched. The complainant will be referred to the Telephone Crime Reporting Unit (TCRU).
** Menacing Report — Officers won’t be dispatched. The complainant will be referred to TCRU.
** Panhandling — Officers won’t be dispatched. The complainant will be referred to the neighborhood liaison officer.
** Telephone Harassment — Officers won’t be dispatched. The complainant will be referred to TCRU.
** Prostitution — Officers won’t be dispatched. The complainant will be referred to Central Vice Control Section. Communications will make a general broadcast and a new incident type will be added to collect necessary data.
** Stalking — Officers won’t be dispatched. The complainant will be referred to TCRU.
** Theft — Officers won’t be dispatched. The complainant will be referred to TCRU.
Located at the Police Communications Section on Radcliff Drive in Price Hill, the TCRU is staffed by police officers, many of who are on limited-duty status such as injured/light duty or awaiting a hearing for alleged misconduct. The officers take routine police reports over the telephone when it’s not necessary for an officer to respond to the scene.
Many TCRU reports are for insurance purposes or other routine documentation needs. The services are available during daytime business hours Monday through Saturday. Supervisors say this approach saves a lot of police officer field time, freeing up beat officers to engage in other more serious patrol, investigative, or police services.
The reference to “general broadcast” means the incident will be reported using the computers in police cruisers without assigning it to a specific officer. It shows up as a message on the computer screen in patrol cars and, if an officer is nearby and isn’t involved in higher priority activities, he or she can respond.
It’s unclear whether City Council or City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. know about the policy changes that will occur in two weeks.
The Police Department recently has been criticized for its excessive use of overtime, causing its budget to skyrocket.
Also, police critics note that even with the proposed layoffs, Cincinnati still will have more officers per capita than other cities like Columbus and Toledo.
UPDATE: The police plan was shared with Dohoney and City Council, sources at City Hall say.
