Latest / Brian Thomas / FOP Pres Ken Kober - Violence Downtown Monday night

Transcript

FOP Pres Ken Kober - Violence Downtown Monday night · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 2: We will be very, very angry with you, and we
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  Speaker 2: will write you a letter telling you how angry were
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  Speaker 2: you are. Hans Blick's approach paralleling the chief of police,
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  Speaker 2: I guess. Brian Thomas here, happy to welcome back to
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  Speaker 2: the fifty five KARSEE Morning Show. Can Cober, the president
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  Speaker 2: of the Fraternal or Police Chapter sixty nine, which represents
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  Speaker 2: the Insant Police Department. Ken Cober, are always a pleasure to
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  Speaker 2: have you on the fifty five KRC Morning Show.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, good morning, Brian, Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 2: Too bad. There's nothing to talk about, right Ken? What's
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  Speaker 2: your react? You got a couple more shootings. Violence obviously
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  Speaker 2: a real problem the city of Cincinnati residents at least
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  Speaker 2: feel violence is a problem. You When I could cite
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  Speaker 2: all day long the number of crimes and violence and
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  Speaker 2: shootings and murders and everything else that's going on in
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  Speaker 2: the city of Cincinnati, we i think we have a
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  Speaker 2: crime problem. It seems that way up until like a
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  Speaker 2: moment in time ago have tab Purvol denying that we
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  Speaker 2: have a problem, thinking that Maga is going to like
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  Speaker 2: ruin the progress we've made in terms of safety. I
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  Speaker 2: saw his campaign literature the other day. He kept talking
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  Speaker 2: about how safe we are, and I don't feel that way.
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  Speaker 2: What is your reaction? What is your perception at least
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  Speaker 2: the Sinnti Police Department, the officers that you represent, their
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  Speaker 2: perception of safety and how what is their perception of
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  Speaker 2: the mayor? I know you got a new confidence vote
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  Speaker 2: with mayor, I have tab Purvol, So let's talk.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I could tell you, you know the perception and
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  Speaker 1: it's it's actually reality is that crime is running rampant
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  Speaker 1: right now. And you know the member spoke doing a
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  Speaker 1: vote of no confidence that they don't have any confidence
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  Speaker 1: in this mayor leading the city, which is exact act
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  Speaker 1: why it's done. And you know, I've been throughout the
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  Speaker 1: districts and uh, I know it has gotten full support
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  Speaker 1: of every officer that I've talked to.
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  Speaker 2: Well, he see and I know Corey Bowman's you know
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  Speaker 2: comment about aftab Parvole. He's been reactive, you know, something
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  Speaker 2: bad happens. He doesn't get ahead of problems with regard
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  Speaker 2: to policing, staffing, where they're located. I don't know how
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  Speaker 2: much control Mayor aftab Parvol has about where the police
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  Speaker 2: are allocated in terms of resources. You obviously need a
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  Speaker 2: couple of hundred additional officers. That's been agoing, ongoing problem.
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  Speaker 2: But does he have any control over how these police
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  Speaker 2: officer resources are allocated or is that square in the
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  Speaker 2: lap of police Chiefdiji?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, is somebody within city administration does? I mean?
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  Speaker 1: I know the mayor is taken credit for all the
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  Speaker 1: millions of dollars that has been allocated for the police.
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  Speaker 1: You know, as far as how those resources are deployed,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure it's a conversation that the chief has with
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  Speaker 1: whether it's a city manager or the mayor. I do
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  Speaker 1: believe all Tamilia, it does fall on the police chief.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, of course, we have an election year,
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  Speaker 1: so politics are running rampant, and there's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: things that I believe politicians are interjecting themselves in that
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  Speaker 1: isn't necessarily good for the police department.
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  Speaker 2: Well, specifically, what I would I mean if I can say,
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  Speaker 2: if if if Ken Cobra FOP president is the mayor,
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  Speaker 2: what would you do and what what is your desire?
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  Speaker 2: What are the desires of the men and women in
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  Speaker 2: uniform right now that aren't being addressed.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let the police chief the run the police department,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and let her make the decisions that she
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  Speaker 1: feels she needs to make without having city leaders tell
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  Speaker 1: her this is what you're gonna do. I'm a perfect
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  Speaker 1: example of that. And we saw that cops are being
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  Speaker 1: ordered to work, uh you know, work walking patrols on
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  Speaker 1: their off time, on an off day, they cancel their
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  Speaker 1: off days and they order them to work and you
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  Speaker 1: know walk on Main Street and Vine Street from Central
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  Speaker 1: Parkway to Liberty Street. That wasn't something that the police
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  Speaker 1: chief just came up with. This is something that city
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  Speaker 1: hall does. And it's things like that that you know,
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  Speaker 1: we're we're using you know, resources there when maybe they
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  Speaker 1: could be used somewhere differently.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there's a lot of neighborhoods in the City of
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  Speaker 2: Cincinnati we've seen to be focusing on the you know,
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  Speaker 2: like Government Square problems. I know, after that was on
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  Speaker 2: a tear about the issues going on Government Square thinking
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  Speaker 2: maybe sort of might be able to hammer it out.
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  Speaker 2: What do you just real quick on that issue, because
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  Speaker 2: I was kind of scratching my head over the mayor's
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  Speaker 2: comments looking for changes to Government Square. Wow, why is
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  Speaker 2: that the magnet? And if you crack down on Government Square,
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  Speaker 2: which is just loading and unloading zone from my understanding
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  Speaker 2: for buses, wouldn't those reckless, you know, lawbreaking youths or
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  Speaker 2: whoever's hanging out there just move someplace else?
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know this, this has been the topic of
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  Speaker 1: discussion for the last two years now, is you see
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  Speaker 1: what's going on with juveniles. You have juveniles that have
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  Speaker 1: no business being downtown, but because they're given these bus
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  Speaker 1: passes after school, they all congregate downtown. So you have
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  Speaker 1: kids that don't belong and don't live downtown that are
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  Speaker 1: coming down there, and of course and they're clashing with
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  Speaker 1: kids from other neighborhoods that are driving this violence. And
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  Speaker 1: that's that is the really the crux of what the
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  Speaker 1: problems that we see after school at Government Square. These
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  Speaker 1: aren't kids that are running around downtown that live down there.
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  Speaker 1: These are kids from Evanston, from Westwood, you know, neighborhoods
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  Speaker 1: all over the city that all come to the central
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  Speaker 1: location that quite honestly a lot of them don't have
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  Speaker 1: any business being down there to begin with.
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  Speaker 2: So, Yeah, in spite of my reaction this morning to
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  Speaker 2: what may I have to have Purwell said, so there
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  Speaker 2: is really something to that.
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  Speaker 1: Is it?
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  Speaker 2: Is it just the transportation system generally that by concentrating
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  Speaker 2: them there and by requiring all these these school aged
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  Speaker 2: kids to you know, ride the metro buses and end
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  Speaker 2: up in Government Square because it just that's where the
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  Speaker 2: central location is that needs to be rethought or changed.
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  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean you have, it's been suggested, and
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  Speaker 1: it's fallen on fears as you have the transit center
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  Speaker 1: under Second Street that that could be used for a
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  Speaker 1: bus depot. That's exactly what it was built and designed
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  Speaker 1: to be. Yeah, and if you're if the kids are
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  Speaker 1: down there, it's not an attractive.
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  Speaker 2: Prince to me.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's there's there's less opportunity for them to
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  Speaker 1: go disrupt businesses because you're literally you know, in a
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  Speaker 1: in a concrete area where it is sole purpose is
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  Speaker 1: to get on one bus to go to another, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Put it in the heart of downtown, you know, at
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  Speaker 1: at Fifth and Walna in fifth and Maine, and you
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  Speaker 1: have an opportunity with all these businesses with people there
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  Speaker 1: for kids, just to be disruptive. And like I said,
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  Speaker 1: it's been talked about and there's been so much pushback
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  Speaker 1: about it. That transit tunnel sits empty ninety nine percent
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  Speaker 1: of the year. That's what I believe that they should
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  Speaker 1: look at moving that transit center down there to alleviate
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  Speaker 1: some of these problems.
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  Speaker 2: It sounds like a brilliant idea. You say, there's been
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  Speaker 2: pushback on that pushback, and I mean maybe not necessarily
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  Speaker 2: so much from whom, But what is the argument against
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  Speaker 2: what seems like a very logical solution to the problem,
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  Speaker 2: at least something that it's worth trying out right, Well.
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  Speaker 1: I know from the metro perspective, and I can certainly
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  Speaker 1: understand where they're coming from, because you have these routes.
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  Speaker 1: They have routes down to literally a tenth of a mile,
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  Speaker 1: how long it takes, how much fuel it takes, all
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  Speaker 1: these things, and their contention is if we move at
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  Speaker 1: a half a mile, then the cost of doing business
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  Speaker 1: is going to go up, which I understand that, but
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  Speaker 1: the cost of leaving that where it is and destroying
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  Speaker 1: downtown and businesses, I think is probably going to be
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  Speaker 1: much greater than what the cost of fuel is going
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  Speaker 1: to be to move the bus depot half a mile.
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  Speaker 2: Well, if you had to crunch the numbers and the
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  Speaker 2: allocation of police resources and the impact on business alone,
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  Speaker 2: I have to imagine that those two costs combined are
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  Speaker 2: greater than whatever it is would be the cost impact
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  Speaker 2: of maybe dropping them off down Second Street.
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  Speaker 1: No, absolutely, that's what I said. I mean, we're we're
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  Speaker 1: at the point now where in my twenty five year
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  Speaker 1: career I hadn't heard of of one shooting at Fountain Square,
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  Speaker 1: much less two in five days, And it's only a
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  Speaker 1: matter of time before these businesses go Enough's enough, We're
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  Speaker 1: not dealing with this anymore. You know, you have police
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  Speaker 1: officers that are standing a Fountain Square and there are
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  Speaker 1: people shooting each other anyway, So they've got to do
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  Speaker 1: something to figure out how to deal with this. You know,
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  Speaker 1: these these traditional methods of whow We're just gonna throw
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  Speaker 1: fifty policemen down there. It's clearly not working. So they're
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  Speaker 1: gonna have to think outside of the box and find
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  Speaker 1: a way to solve this problem. And they better solve
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  Speaker 1: it quickly.
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  Speaker 2: FOP President Kenkalbra I'm gonna pause. We'll bring it back
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  Speaker 2: and maybe get a few more questions about the situation
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  Speaker 2: in downtown Cincinnati. We do have an election coming up.
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  Speaker 2: We could choose a different path in the city, and
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  Speaker 2: that's been my strong encouragement, most notably since my police
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  Speaker 2: department friends don't have any confidence in have to have
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  Speaker 2: parwall question do they have confidence in police chief? Thresa
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  Speaker 2: Thiji me ask that question coming back? Can preparing you
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  Speaker 2: for the next question? Seven fifteen right now fifty five
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  Speaker 2: k Site talks tap the talk station seven nineteen fifty
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  Speaker 2: five k ras Dan talk station. I hope you're having
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  Speaker 2: a decent Tuesday. Brian Thomas with FOP President Ken Cober,
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  Speaker 2: Chapter sixty nine represented this in sant Police Apartment. Ken Cober, obviously,
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  Speaker 2: no confidence vote means you have no confidence in the
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  Speaker 2: marif to have purvol you said, you know, leave it
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  Speaker 2: the allocation of resources and police patrols and decision making
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  Speaker 2: with regard to since at police department and where they
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  Speaker 2: are that should be left up to police chief three. Cythigi,
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  Speaker 2: Do the men and women in uniform have confidence in
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  Speaker 2: police chief? Three? Cythigi. I've heard, and I've heard it
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  Speaker 2: from quite a few of the officers that I know.
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  Speaker 2: The answer to that question is no, that's what I
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  Speaker 2: have heard. And I know it's a delicate question to
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  Speaker 2: ask you, FOP President ken Kober, But where are we
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  Speaker 2: with regard to police chief three Cythigi.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, No, one's come to me and said, look, I
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  Speaker 1: think we should take some kind of vote and no
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  Speaker 1: confidence on the chief. And this is where a lot
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  Speaker 1: of the frustration lies is in two thousand and five,
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  Speaker 1: when the voters passed Issue five that gave the city
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  Speaker 1: the sole authority to hire and fire a police chief.
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  Speaker 1: It completely ruined the position a chief. Now you have
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  Speaker 1: the police chief, and it's not just Chief Thiji, It's
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  Speaker 1: been every chief that's come after Chief Striker when he
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  Speaker 1: retired in twenty ten. They behold the city manager and
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  Speaker 1: the mayoritics if they say, yeah, it's all politics, and
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  Speaker 1: that's I've been very very vocal about politicians need to
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  Speaker 1: stay out a law enforcement and unfortunately we don't have that.
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  Speaker 1: We saw it when James Craig first got elected or
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  Speaker 1: first got appointed, and he was here for two years,
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  Speaker 1: made some fantastic changes The troops loved him, and they
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  Speaker 1: got rid of him because the troops loved him. So
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  Speaker 1: now you know, fast forward to Chief Fiji and it's
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  Speaker 1: like she's stuck between a rock and a hard place,
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  Speaker 1: And I get it. Now, you have a boss that
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  Speaker 1: you have to answer to that's going to tell you
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  Speaker 1: you're going to do this, You're going to do that,
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  Speaker 1: and if you don't do it, then the consequences could
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  Speaker 1: be your terminated. So would I like to see or
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  Speaker 1: do things differently, Yeah? I would, But I also understand
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  Speaker 1: that you have somebody have to answer to. And if
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  Speaker 1: the mayor, of the city manager or whoever it is
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  Speaker 1: that's above you is telling you you're going to do
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  Speaker 1: this if you want to stay employed, that's what you
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  Speaker 1: have to do.
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  Speaker 2: You know. I am so glad that I asked you
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  Speaker 2: the question because I had I guess either wasn't aware
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  Speaker 2: or had forgotten the old way versus the new way.
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  Speaker 2: Who is in a better position to determine who the
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  Speaker 2: chief of police is than the police officers themselves? I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you guys are ladies and men, are not going to
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  Speaker 2: select someone that's not going to be in your best interest.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to look for the most competent person, the
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  Speaker 2: one who's going to hire based on merit, who's going
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  Speaker 2: to provide promotions based upon merit as opposed to who's
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  Speaker 2: politically connected, who fills in the right checkbox on some
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  Speaker 2: woke identity form. You know, is there any possibility we
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  Speaker 2: can go back to that Ken.
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  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and it would take some kind of bout
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  Speaker 1: in this. But you know, while I understand you know this,
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  Speaker 1: this was the will of the people in two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and five, I think there should be there could be
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  Speaker 1: some compromise to be made. I think anytime you leave
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  Speaker 1: it to one or two people to determine, you know,
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  Speaker 1: whether or not, you know, the police chief is going
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  Speaker 1: to stay in that position, I think that that creates problems.
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  Speaker 1: You know what, maybe it's a something where you know,
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  Speaker 1: they put about initiative on where you know, we consider
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  Speaker 1: maybe the majority of council decides, you know, whether or
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  Speaker 1: not we hire or fire somebody. I don't know. There's
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  Speaker 1: a lot of things that I think need to be explored.
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  Speaker 1: But you know, the position a police chief needs to
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  Speaker 1: come with some protections. You know, if it's not FOP protection,
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  Speaker 1: then they got to be able to know that they
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  Speaker 1: can do and go out and do what they think
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  Speaker 1: is best for the police department, best for this city
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  Speaker 1: of Cincinnati, and do that without fear of making one
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  Speaker 1: person upset who's a politician, and and them have the
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  Speaker 1: ability just to get rid of it's certainly handcuffs the
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  Speaker 1: police chief. And that's why you see, you know it's
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  Speaker 1: not just Cincinnati, but all these major cities that now
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  Speaker 1: have this, they have a new police chief every two, three,
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  Speaker 1: four years. Yeah, we've gone through the same thing here
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  Speaker 1: and it does a disservice not only do the police
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  Speaker 1: department to the men and women that serve this police department,
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  Speaker 1: but also for the citizens. They deserve to have a
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  Speaker 1: police chief that is able to make decisions based off
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  Speaker 1: of what they think is best for law enforcement in
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  Speaker 1: the city, not based off of what a politician thinks
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  Speaker 1: we should do.
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  Speaker 2: And who I would argue that who would know better
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  Speaker 2: as police chief than someone who came up through the
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  Speaker 2: ranks within the City of Cincinnati Police department. You hire
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  Speaker 2: somebody from some other city out there in the world,
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  Speaker 2: it's going to take them forever to get up to
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  Speaker 2: speed on how we operate here in the city. You
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  Speaker 2: can't just hit the ground running in that position, I
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  Speaker 2: would believe maybe I'm wrong on that.
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  Speaker 1: No, you're absolutely right, you know, like I said in
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  Speaker 1: James Craig was one of the few. He hit the
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  Speaker 1: ground run and did an absolutely fantastic job. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: he he was what this city needed, what the police
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  Speaker 1: department needed at that time, and he did a fantastic job.
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  Speaker 1: And unfortunately, because he stood on his own two feet
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  Speaker 1: and stood up to you know, at the time, the
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  Speaker 1: politicians at were at city Hall. You know, he was
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  Speaker 1: there for two years. They didn't even offer a contract extension.
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  Speaker 1: They said yeah, thanks, but no thanks to you later.
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  Speaker 1: And then of course he went up to Detroit and
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  Speaker 1: did some fantastic work up there. But you know, as
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  Speaker 1: long as this system is in place, you're never going
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  Speaker 1: to have a police chief that is going to stand
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  Speaker 1: there and say, no, I'm going to do what I
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  Speaker 1: think is best as a law enforcement professional is you know,
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  Speaker 1: if that differs from what a politician says, because at
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  Speaker 1: the end of the day, if they want to stay employed,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: they're going to do what politicians tell him to do.
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  Speaker 1: And that's that is a slippery slope and we're seeing
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  Speaker 1: the effects of that now.
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  Speaker 2: I cannot thank you enough for coming in the morning
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  Speaker 2: show today, Ken Kober. I appreciate that profound honesty and
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: eye opening reality of what you're dealing with there. I
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  Speaker 2: think you've hit the nail on the head, my friend,
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  Speaker 2: and first time of a discussion involving that component of
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  Speaker 2: the cincint Police Department. So maybe we can change things
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  Speaker 2: going down the road. In the meantime, we're stuck with
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  Speaker 2: what we've got and elections do have consequences. FLP President
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  Speaker 2: Ken Cover, thanks again, man, this has been a really
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  Speaker 2: enlightening conversation. I appreciate coming on the show and talking
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  Speaker 2: about it.