Latest / Brian Thomas / FOP Pres Ken Kober - Violence Around UC

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FOP Pres Ken Kober - Violence Around UC · Brian Thomas

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It's 630. The 55KRC Talk Station. Happy Wednesday. And there
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: he is. Glad to welcome back to the 55KRC Morning Show.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: And God bless the Cincinnati Police Department. God bless all
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  Speaker 1: members of law enforcement. I appreciate it. I know my
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  Speaker 1: listeners do. And we're not interested in defunding police. We're
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  Speaker 1: interested in getting more police in areas that deserve and
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  Speaker 1: need more police because there's more violence in some places
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  Speaker 1: than others. Joining the program, the return of FOP President
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  Speaker 1: Ken Cobra, representing the Union of the Cincinnati Police Department.
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  Speaker 1: Good to have you back on, Ken. It's a pleasure
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  Speaker 1: to have you on the show.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, Brian. Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: Real quick question. One of my dear friends, call him
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  Speaker 1: Cribbage Mike, he was curious to know, it's interim police
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  Speaker 1: chief Henney. Is there currently a search on? Is interim
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  Speaker 1: police chief Henney going to become the formal police chief?
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  Speaker 1: Do you have any idea where they are in that?
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to put you on the spot if
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  Speaker 1: you don't know, but there hasn't been much reporting on
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  Speaker 1: the current status of finding a permanent police chief.
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  Speaker 2: No, there's been no search. There's been no even talks
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  Speaker 2: of anything. That's the interesting part. I mean, we're going
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  Speaker 2: into almost a.
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  Speaker 1: Year now and nothing. Wow. OK, so it isn't for
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  Speaker 1: want of reporting. It's for want of activity by, I guess,
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  Speaker 1: city manager Cheryl Long. It's her responsibility, isn't it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. And there's been there's been no talks that
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  Speaker 2: I'm aware of. Like I said, there's not even any
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  Speaker 2: any rumors going around the police department of, you know,
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  Speaker 2: what what's this look like in the future? Just nothing. Huh.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. Well, if you find out anything, please let me know.
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  Speaker 1: Let everybody else know about that. Wow, that's strange. Anyhow,
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  Speaker 1: real quick, does this interim component for handy status, does
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  Speaker 1: that create a problem among the rank and file, the
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  Speaker 1: sort of interim nature of it? Or is it just
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  Speaker 1: sort of business as usual, despite the fact that business
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  Speaker 1: isn't really good right now, given the number of officers
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  Speaker 1: we're down? But seriously, does it create a problem with
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  Speaker 1: internal structure?
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  Speaker 2: Well, sure it does, because there's only so many decisions
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  Speaker 2: an interim chief can make. And until they know that
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  Speaker 2: there's some stability, the rank and file, we're wondering every day,
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  Speaker 2: what's going on? Why has it now been almost a
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  Speaker 2: year that we have an interim chief? And there's been
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  Speaker 2: absolutely no communication whatsoever about what any kind of process
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  Speaker 2: would look like, what any kind of final decision. So
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  Speaker 2: it leaves the rank and file wondering day to day,
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  Speaker 2: who's going to be in charge of this police department?
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  Speaker 1: Understood. Are promotions delayed as well?
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  Speaker 2: No. No, because actually everything from sergeant, lieutenant, captain, all
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  Speaker 2: those positions are all part of our bargaining unit, so
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  Speaker 2: they have to follow the contract when it comes to promotions.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I hope for a prompt resolution to that, although
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  Speaker 1: I guess the prompt ship has sailed, given that we're
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  Speaker 1: coming up on a year. Violence in and around downtown Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 1: It was first reported there was a stabbing on the streetcar,
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  Speaker 1: but apparently there was a stabbing near the streetcar route,
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  Speaker 1: but one more violent act in downtown Cincinnati. And, of course,
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  Speaker 1: the violence around the University of Cincinnati is really troubling
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  Speaker 1: to me. I went there for seven years, seven years
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  Speaker 1: of college down the drain. But it never struck me
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  Speaker 1: as a violent area. And if you're trying to get
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  Speaker 1: kids to go to the University of Cincinnati and day
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  Speaker 1: after day after day there's some sort of violent outbreak
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  Speaker 1: or someone gets harmed, that's got to hurt the reputation
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  Speaker 1: of the University of Cincinnati, but also the reputation of
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  Speaker 1: the city generally speaking. Looks like interim police chief Henney
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  Speaker 1: and UC police chief Elliot Isaac were talking about this
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  Speaker 1: yesterday and their efforts to expand police presence. And I
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  Speaker 1: saw and I thought this was a rather interesting statement
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about, Ken Kober. Isaac pointed
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  Speaker 1: out that the University of Cincinnati police have doubled their
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  Speaker 1: deployment in the area around the university and that spends
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  Speaker 1: a million dollars a year to hire off-duty Cincinnati police
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  Speaker 1: for additional support. I thought you guys were overworked just
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  Speaker 1: filling in details for overtime to patrol the city of Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 1: What's the story on this borrowing of the city police
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  Speaker 1: officers for the university, Ken?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we've had a relationship for years with the University
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  Speaker 2: of Cincinnati Police. They do some fantastic work. They've always
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  Speaker 2: partnered with us. But this detail has been going on
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  Speaker 2: for several years where they go in and they will
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  Speaker 2: have extra patrols, like I said, in the UC campus
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  Speaker 2: area as well as Coryville. Um, you know, and it's
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  Speaker 2: just this, you see this spike in crime, of course,
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  Speaker 2: you know, when kids come back to school, um, you know,
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  Speaker 2: because college kids are just sometimes naive and they decide, well,
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  Speaker 2: I'll just leave my front door open or whatever. And
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  Speaker 2: before you know, people are breaking into houses. Unfortunately, it
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  Speaker 2: happens every year. Um, kids getting robbed, they're just walking around,
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  Speaker 2: not paying attention to their surroundings. Um, and it does
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  Speaker 2: seem to level off once school gets started and then
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  Speaker 2: kids realize, oh, wait, you know, even though this campus
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  Speaker 2: typically is safe, there's a lot of bad areas around there.
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  Speaker 2: And of course, what does it do? It makes these
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  Speaker 2: kids easy targets. So they're starting to figure it out,
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  Speaker 2: it seems.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'm guessing that when you refer to the students
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  Speaker 1: versus the perpetrators, the perpetrators are not students.
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  Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. I mean, you look at all of
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  Speaker 2: the suspects and all these crimes. They're people that come
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  Speaker 2: in and they just want to prey on these college kids.
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  Speaker 2: I applaud the police department you see for saying, listen,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to try to find out where we can
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  Speaker 2: get more bodies from to flood this area because it
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  Speaker 2: proves the old point that if you have more police
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  Speaker 2: in an area, crime is naturally going to go down.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and of course, social media has compounded the problem
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  Speaker 1: of these violent actions. We're going to bring Ken back
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  Speaker 1: and talk a little bit more about that, given the
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  Speaker 1: recent arrest of one of the guys primarily responsible for
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  Speaker 1: these sort of flash mobs that get out of control.
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  Speaker 2: 636.
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  Speaker 1: Station. 641-55-KRC-D Talk Station. Brian Thomas speaking with FOP President
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  Speaker 1: Ken Kober. Violence around campus, he identified maybe one of
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  Speaker 1: the primary reasons kids coming back from school and creating
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  Speaker 1: crimes of opportunity by not paying attention to where they are,
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  Speaker 1: walking around oblivious to what's around them, carrying cell phones around. Ken,
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  Speaker 1: I've also understood that students just sitting outside on their
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  Speaker 1: front porches in student housing Or also getting attacked by
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  Speaker 1: random people walking by. I find that really a difficult
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  Speaker 1: thing because you're entering onto someone's private property and doing that.
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  Speaker 1: And that suggests to me you're maybe setting yourself up
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  Speaker 1: for a potentially deadly interaction. Is that a common phenomenon, Ken?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, unfortunately it is. You see these kids that are
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  Speaker 2: out running around. They're all drinking. But it's no excuse
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  Speaker 2: for somebody to be walking around lurking for.
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  Speaker 2: Young, unsuspecting college kids. It's something that unfortunately we see
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  Speaker 2: it and there's a spike at the beginning of the
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  Speaker 2: school year and then it does seem.
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  Speaker 1: To level off.
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  Speaker 2: Now, part of that might be the weather, but it's
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  Speaker 2: something that it seems to go on every year.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I know UC is not unique in having
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  Speaker 1: crime problems. I even point out to my daughter when
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  Speaker 1: she went to Ohio State University, got robbed at gunpoint twice, twice.
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  Speaker 1: One girl. So you can imagine how rampant that problem is. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: but the problem, all of this, the criminal, the crime
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  Speaker 1: problem is exacerbated, whether it's around UC campus or anyplace else.
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  Speaker 1: When you've got people going onto social media and doing
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  Speaker 1: these flash mob events, whether it's street takeovers or things
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  Speaker 1: like this 25-year-old Ronquez Benton that you guys arrested because
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  Speaker 1: he was one of the ones responsible for promoting these
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  Speaker 1: events online. I mean, doesn't this represent a challenge to
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  Speaker 1: law enforcement? Because here I am, Brian Thomas, I have
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  Speaker 1: a free speech rights. Now, while I stay off social
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  Speaker 1: media for the most part, I could go on one
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  Speaker 1: of the social media outlets and tell people that, hey,
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  Speaker 1: we're all meeting at X place. I'm allowed to do that.
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  Speaker 1: We are allowed to freely assemble or we have a
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  Speaker 1: constitutional right to that. But where does it cross the
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  Speaker 1: legal line? How do you arrest someone for organizing these
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  Speaker 1: flash mobs that ultimately turn violent, which maybe aren't advertised
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  Speaker 1: as an opportunity to commit violence?
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  Speaker 2: Kent? Well, in this case, this ringleader, clearly not a
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  Speaker 2: University of Cincinnati student, and was holding these parties on
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  Speaker 2: their property. And if you're not a student, you can't
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  Speaker 2: be on their property. So there you have, at least
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  Speaker 2: at the very minimum, a trespassing charge. The police discovered
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  Speaker 2: that this is the guy that's doing this, go to
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  Speaker 2: him and go, listen, knock this off, because otherwise you're
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  Speaker 2: going to bring problems to yourself. So what does he do?
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  Speaker 2: He doubles down and let's bring a stolen gun to
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  Speaker 2: this party. And by the way, he's already a felon,
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  Speaker 2: is my understanding, if he's being charged with weapons under disability.
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  Speaker 1: They said he was convicted of gross sexual imposition back
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  Speaker 1: in 2024, rendering him not allowed to carry concealed or
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  Speaker 1: carry weapons.
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  Speaker 2: Right. So, you know, they arrest this guy, do phenomenal
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  Speaker 2: police work to get this done, arrest this guy, get
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  Speaker 2: him off the streets. Only for, and this is going
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  Speaker 2: to surprise you, I got a $ 5, 000 bond at 10%.
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  Speaker 2: on these charges, and he's out now walking the streets free.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Hamilton County judicial system. We got elections coming
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  Speaker 1: up here, Ken. That's an emphasis we need to put
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  Speaker 1: on people. Please choose good judges who are tough on crime.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to end up exacerbating the problem, so this
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  Speaker 1: guy's going to continue doing it. What do you need?
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  Speaker 1: Let's boil it down, Ken. Obviously, you've identified some of
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  Speaker 1: the problems. We clearly have a crime problem in downtown.
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  Speaker 1: If you had your wish list fulfilled, let me just
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  Speaker 1: check off number one on the list, a full contingent
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  Speaker 1: of police officers. Beyond that, what is the police department missing?
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  Speaker 1: What needs to be changed from maybe the mayor's office
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  Speaker 1: or the city manager's office? Can you boil it down
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  Speaker 1: to simple terms for my listeners and I to understand, Ken?
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  Speaker 2: Well, what you need is the other part of the
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  Speaker 2: justice system to do its job. You know, the police
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  Speaker 2: do fantastic work. They arrest these people only for them
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  Speaker 2: to be let out. They're spinning their wheels. If we
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  Speaker 2: actually have judges that are willing to hold people accountable
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  Speaker 2: for their actions, then maybe we could get to a
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  Speaker 2: point in society where these things aren't happening to begin
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  Speaker 2: with because the consequence for doing it is greater than
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  Speaker 2: the consequence for not doing it. So maybe they'll figure
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  Speaker 2: this out, but until any of that happens, it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: matter who the mayor, the city manager, they're not going
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  Speaker 2: to do anything. You watch a law and public safety
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  Speaker 2: meeting yesterday where they announced this great police work, all
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  Speaker 2: these things being done. The piece that they left out is, oh,
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  Speaker 2: by the way, this guy we just arrested, the courts
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  Speaker 2: just let him right back out. But they're never going
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  Speaker 2: to say that. I don't know why. But until things
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  Speaker 2: like that change, we're going to continue to see all
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  Speaker 2: of these headlines that we see every day. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: And the solution is in our hands. It's right here.
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  Speaker 1: Show up and vote and vote for judges who actually
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  Speaker 1: are tough on crime. It sounds so simple, and it's
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  Speaker 1: odd to me, Ken, that that isn't the default mindset
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  Speaker 1: of the voter. I wish voters paid closer attention to
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  Speaker 1: who their judges are and who they're voting for, because
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  Speaker 1: if you're voting straight blue ticket, you're going to get
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  Speaker 1: more of the same, and that's sad. One party is
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  Speaker 1: behind woke justice. Republicans aren't advocating for it. And I'm
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  Speaker 1: sure there are some Democrat judges who might run as
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  Speaker 1: a Democrat who want to be tough on crime. The
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  Speaker 1: problem is they probably wouldn't get the endorsement of the
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  Speaker 1: Democrat party. It's a sad situation, Ken Cobra. That's my
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  Speaker 1: observation anyway. But we can change the dynamic and give
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  Speaker 1: Ken his wish. Get better judges on the bench. Ken,
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  Speaker 1: anything else you have to offer this morning to my
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  Speaker 1: listeners before we part company?
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  Speaker 2: No, I will say, if you look at the campus
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  Speaker 2: over the last week or so, there has been a
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  Speaker 2: serious reduction in crime there. So that is at least
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  Speaker 2: something that can leave you on a positive note with.
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  Speaker 1: I am happy to hear that. And across this great land,
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  Speaker 1: we're in crime, at least murders are at a historic low.
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  Speaker 1: So there is, we seem to be going in the
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  Speaker 1: right direction, at least generally as a society with the
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  Speaker 1: reduction in crime. So let's hope we continue on that trend.
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  Speaker 1: And Ken, if we get our wish along those lines,
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  Speaker 1: then you won't need the additional 200 plus officers that
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  Speaker 1: you're down, right?
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  Speaker 2: It's wishful thinking, that is for sure.
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  Speaker 1: I know, but we can all dream. Ken, God bless
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  Speaker 1: you and every member of the Cincinnati Police Department and
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: all members of law enforcement. We'll include everyone out there.
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  Speaker 1: Keep up the great work, Ken. I'll look forward to
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  Speaker 1: having you back on the show, hopefully with some really
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: great news to talk about.
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  Speaker 2: Sounds good.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks, Brian. I appreciate it. Stay safe, man, at 648
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: at 55 Cares.