Latest / Brian Thomas / Retired Cincinnati police captain Russ Neville (Chief Theetge's Brother)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Antifa would be Trumpe Sas and Ryan Ruth guilty.
- 0:02Speaker 2: On all I forgive him fifty five krs the talk
- 0:07Speaker 2: station at oh six here at fifty five KRCD talk
- 0:14Speaker 2: station of a hair very happy Wednesday to your bottom
- 0:16Speaker 2: of the hour, Judge, edited of Paul Towney here in
- 0:17Speaker 2: the fifty five krc Morning show every Wednesday, and right
- 0:21Speaker 2: now sitting in front of me. And what a storied
- 0:23Speaker 2: family law enforcement they have. It's the Neville family. You
- 0:28Speaker 2: may have heard of him, retired Captain Russ Neville in studio.
- 0:31Speaker 2: You may have heard of Rick Neville. He was a
- 0:33Speaker 2: Hamilton County Sheriff captain when he retired, and you may
- 0:36Speaker 2: have heard of their respective sister, police Chief Teresa Thiji.
- 0:41Speaker 2: So welcome Russ. It is great to have you in all.
- 0:44Speaker 1: Right, thank you, thank you.
- 0:45Speaker 2: This is awesome.
- 0:46Speaker 1: Appreciate it. The family appreciate it, and hopefully your listeners
- 0:50Speaker 1: at the conclusionists will conclusion of this, will also appreciate it.
- 0:54Speaker 1: From the political perspective.
- 0:55Speaker 2: Well, and that's what I hope you can unfold for us,
- 0:57Speaker 2: because you know it's my favorite phrase. Anyways, Like the
- 1:00Speaker 2: peace of God, it passes all human understanding. I can't
- 1:02Speaker 2: quite make heads or tails out of this, And of
- 1:05Speaker 2: course we're referring to Mayor Afteb provol and City Manager
- 1:08Speaker 2: Cheryl Long's decision to place Police Chief Threesa Thiji on
- 1:12Speaker 2: paid administrative leave while this investigation goes on. And I'll
- 1:16Speaker 2: let you speak to this investigation they've launched. Apparently they're
- 1:19Speaker 2: going to be looking through I guess with twenty twenty
- 1:21Speaker 2: hindsight every single thing that Police Chief Thiji did during
- 1:24Speaker 2: her four years in the role of police chief between
- 1:27Speaker 2: now and December with some retained law firm from Columbus.
- 1:31Speaker 2: So we'll get to that in a moment, but real
- 1:33Speaker 2: quickly here, I want to thank you on behalf of
- 1:37Speaker 2: the Greater Cincinnati Listening audience for what you and your
- 1:41Speaker 2: family have done, your career in law enforcement, your brother,
- 1:44Speaker 2: and of course Police Chief Thiji's career. She's been at
- 1:46Speaker 2: it for thirty five years. How many years were you
- 1:48Speaker 2: on the SINCINNT Police Department?
- 1:49Speaker 1: I did thirty four, Mike's a retired captain, did thirty four. Rick's,
- 1:53Speaker 1: a retired captain with the county, did thirty. My son's
- 1:57Speaker 1: on left. We have nephews on my sister Joyce retired
- 2:02Speaker 1: after thirty or so. But I do want to emphasize this.
- 2:04Speaker 1: Thank you for mentioning it, thank you for recognizing it.
- 2:09Speaker 2: That's service man, that is.
- 2:10Speaker 1: But Brian, this issue is absolutely not about the Neville
- 2:14Speaker 1: family or the legacy. It's nice to hear.
- 2:16Speaker 2: Is anybody suggesting that it is. I would like to
- 2:18Speaker 2: think not.
- 2:19Speaker 1: No. I just want to separate it out that we
- 2:21Speaker 1: are here. We appreciate the recognition, but the focus here
- 2:26Speaker 1: is Terry and it is where we hope voters in
- 2:29Speaker 1: the city of Cincinnati specifically challenge themselves to be open
- 2:35Speaker 1: to an except new leadership, and we can get further
- 2:38Speaker 1: into that, and.
- 2:38Speaker 2: We will definitely do that. Russ, the city's got a
- 2:41Speaker 2: problem with crime. I talk to people all the time,
- 2:44Speaker 2: you know, Yeah, it's a pain down there. Look what happens.
- 2:46Speaker 2: I mean, we got Holly getting clocked in the face
- 2:49Speaker 2: for no reason by some random dude that she wasn't
- 2:52Speaker 2: even doing anything but rendering assistance. We have a Sarah
- 2:54Speaker 2: Herringer who gets her husband's stabbed in there over the
- 2:57Speaker 2: Rhine apartment right in front of her. He died in
- 3:00Speaker 2: her arms just a couple of and in addition to
- 3:02Speaker 2: all the gunshots ringing out, all the other murders, and
- 3:05Speaker 2: all the other mayhem, the violence of property crimes. Everybody's saying,
- 3:08Speaker 2: we've got a crime problem in downtown since that, except
- 3:10Speaker 2: may I have to have parvol who up until about
- 3:12Speaker 2: five seconds ago kept going around, No, you have a
- 3:15Speaker 2: perception problem. It's a perception problem. So then Plice G
- 3:21Speaker 2: three G gets thiet, he gets left that your sister
- 3:22Speaker 2: gets let go. I don't how can I connect this?
- 3:25Speaker 2: And how is it that she's a scapegoat? She worked
- 3:27Speaker 2: for him.
- 3:27Speaker 1: Let me let me flow into this if I could,
- 3:29Speaker 1: if we have time and I could interjet. I want
- 3:32Speaker 1: cover Terry's career just a little bit. Thirty four years,
- 3:36Speaker 1: a mom of four, grandmother and nine at this stage dedicated, committed, loyal, honest,
- 3:43Speaker 1: direct and strong, and she committed those years of this city.
- 3:47Speaker 1: And people that are in position of authority now have
- 3:50Speaker 1: elected to scapegoader and set that aside. I go back
- 3:53Speaker 1: to it's not about the Neville family. It's about the
- 3:55Speaker 1: treatment of people who currently in future desire to sit
- 3:59Speaker 1: in that position or other administrative positions such as fire chief.
- 4:02Speaker 1: Those are very very critical issues, and it's about dignity
- 4:06Speaker 1: and respect. We transition from that to the political element
- 4:11Speaker 1: of it. Family of eighty plus Brian forty or fifty
- 4:14Speaker 1: or a voter age, we're Democrats in independence Republicans. We
- 4:18Speaker 1: vote across the board, we talk across the board, and
- 4:21Speaker 1: we're fortunate that we can do that as a family
- 4:23Speaker 1: and still get along and enjoy sitting down together. Point being,
- 4:28Speaker 1: the mayor has failed in managing this city, and we
- 4:33Speaker 1: as a family for those that continue to vote in
- 4:36Speaker 1: the city, in those otherwise in the county which it
- 4:38Speaker 1: reaches out to, in other elements, we recognize collectively that
- 4:44Speaker 1: this is about leadership change in the city the mayor,
- 4:50Speaker 1: regardless of your party, this borders on inhumane the treatment
- 4:56Speaker 1: of Chief Thiji Terry Thiji when he is leading this.
- 5:01Speaker 1: I don't care what anybody says, and we will wait
- 5:05Speaker 1: for other elements to come out as the lawyers on
- 5:07Speaker 1: their side and the lawyers on Terry side do what
- 5:09Speaker 1: they do, and we'll leave that process work itself out.
- 5:12Speaker 1: He's wasting tax dollars. It's the timing of the waste
- 5:18Speaker 1: of tax dollars when the money's not there, the resources
- 5:21Speaker 1: aren't there. He placed her on leave, then hires a
- 5:24Speaker 1: law firm to conduct an inquiry. It's a gross misuse
- 5:29Speaker 1: of resources. And the constituents deserve better. They deserve better.
- 5:34Speaker 1: And then when we get to the crime discussion that
- 5:36Speaker 1: you offered up with, this crime is an ebb and
- 5:38Speaker 1: flow Brian. Of course, you go back and look ten years,
- 5:41Speaker 1: five years, it's an evan flow. Different neighborhoods, different neighborhoods,
- 5:44Speaker 1: gets hit. You manage it, you control it, you put programs,
- 5:48Speaker 1: you put resources. Here's what gets me. There's fifty two
- 5:52Speaker 1: communities in this city. The mayor didn't step up and
- 5:56Speaker 1: say a word, didn't take actions until it hit the
- 5:59Speaker 1: central Business district, which it's a shame it has, and
- 6:02Speaker 1: there are plans and processes to improve that. What about
- 6:05Speaker 1: the other fifty one communities when he had an opportunity
- 6:09Speaker 1: to step up and make a voice and make a
- 6:11Speaker 1: point and try to do something silent? So who's he
- 6:14Speaker 1: really a mayor for.
- 6:15Speaker 2: It's not for the city, No, clearly not. And I
- 6:17Speaker 2: mean I could go straight to the whole Hyde Park
- 6:19Speaker 2: development project. He throws connected communities over every neighborhood without
- 6:23Speaker 2: consulting any local neighborhood about it. His own personal self direction,
- 6:27Speaker 2: then makes exceptions for well connected developers. He did it
- 6:29Speaker 2: to bond Hill. But then again he doesn't care what
- 6:32Speaker 2: the constituents say. They scream out loud, he ignores them.
- 6:35Speaker 2: So I guess he's serving his own political interest in
- 6:37Speaker 2: his own whim. But back to the retention to this
- 6:39Speaker 2: law firm. If you read the retention letter, the information
- 6:42Speaker 2: that came out about it, they've been hired to look
- 6:45Speaker 2: at her record. It sounds to me like to find
- 6:50Speaker 2: some justification letter go. He didn't say out loud anything
- 6:54Speaker 2: that she did to justify him placing your own administrative
- 6:57Speaker 2: leave in the first place. So now he's got a
- 6:59Speaker 2: search committee out there looking for something in a record
- 7:01Speaker 2: so he can come back later and fill in the blank.
- 7:03Speaker 2: Oh yeah, by the way, back in October, the reason
- 7:06Speaker 2: I put her on in Australia's leads because this thing
- 7:09Speaker 2: she did two years ago, which isn't even on her
- 7:11Speaker 2: record right now.
- 7:12Speaker 1: And it's interesting that you know, five eight nine days
- 7:15Speaker 1: before this came about, he stated to my brother that
- 7:20Speaker 1: there was no light between them, that he had full
- 7:24Speaker 1: confidence and faith and confidence in her. What happened, it
- 7:27Speaker 1: wasn't Terry's performance, and it's asked backwards. Anybody that pays
- 7:32Speaker 1: attention or follows the treatment of people, or anybody's been
- 7:36Speaker 1: in a management position, and those who have been reporting
- 7:39Speaker 1: to management positions, they realize that this is backwards and
- 7:43Speaker 1: will allow what they do to the process to go forward.
- 7:48Speaker 1: I don't see them finding anything in Terry's history that
- 7:50Speaker 1: would be questionable to anybody, and we'll see what Terry's
- 7:54Speaker 1: attorney does with it from there. But it's asked backwards.
- 7:57Speaker 1: There's no better way to say it.
- 7:59Speaker 2: Well, and they've been down this road before. You made
- 8:01Speaker 2: mentioned briefly of the fire department. We all know what
- 8:03Speaker 2: happened to Michael Washington. Michael Washington's going to get a big,
- 8:07Speaker 2: fat paycheck complements of the city taxpayers as a consequence
- 8:10Speaker 2: of him being terminated without cause. This sounds like lining
- 8:14Speaker 2: up for number two. They are already demonstrably incompetent in
- 8:17Speaker 2: the treatment of him. Looks like let's gear up for
- 8:20Speaker 2: another big check.
- 8:21Speaker 1: I mean, obviously I can't speak on the check, I
- 8:23Speaker 1: can't speak on the ligation, but I will say what
- 8:30Speaker 1: they're doing is wrong. It's out in line, it's inhumane,
- 8:36Speaker 1: and it's a combination of the mayor and the manager.
- 8:38Speaker 1: And for the mayor to set back and act as
- 8:40Speaker 1: if he doesn't have an influence on this or some
- 8:43Speaker 1: involvement in this is a blatant lie to his constituents.
- 8:46Speaker 2: Blatant lied to his constituents. In studio, retired Captain russ Neville,
- 8:50Speaker 2: after a story curis insint Police Department from an amazing
- 8:54Speaker 2: law enforcement family. Will continue talking about this issue that
- 8:57Speaker 2: we all can say something about because guess what the
- 9:00Speaker 2: elections next Tuesday, and you do have an opportunity to vote.
- 9:02Speaker 2: And remember the definition of stupidity is doing the same
- 9:04Speaker 2: thing over and over again expecting a different result. Forty
- 9:07Speaker 2: years worth here in the city of Cincinnati. How are
- 9:09Speaker 2: your roads parenthetically eight fifteen station, it's eight nineteen fifty
- 9:17Speaker 2: five ker CD talk station. Yes, my conversation with russ
- 9:19Speaker 2: Neville continues even off air. That was where my chuckles
- 9:21Speaker 2: were coming from. Russ Neville, retired Captain of the Cincinnati
- 9:25Speaker 2: Police Department thirty four years He said, that's just absolutely amazing,
- 9:30Speaker 2: all right, insofar as police chief, Theji's concerned again, your
- 9:34Speaker 2: sister and you're well connected with this issue because of
- 9:37Speaker 2: some family reasons, but simply because and by virtue of
- 9:40Speaker 2: your being a police officer for so long, you know
- 9:42Speaker 2: exactly how all of this works. Now, there was a
- 9:45Speaker 2: day prior to Issue five being passed where the collective,
- 9:50Speaker 2: the police officers themselves chose I believe, from among their
- 9:53Speaker 2: own ranks who they wanted elevated a police chief. I
- 9:55Speaker 2: think the last person to have that was a chief Striker, correct,
- 10:00Speaker 2: And I guess politics being what it is, Striker was
- 10:03Speaker 2: immune from being let go for any reason whatsoever because
- 10:06Speaker 2: he was subject to the union benefits in the corrective
- 10:08Speaker 2: bargaining agreement. So they changed the law. Issue five was
- 10:11Speaker 2: passed that gives exclusive control over the hiring and firing
- 10:14Speaker 2: of the fire chief and police chief to the city
- 10:17Speaker 2: manager and the mayor. Not even council gets to vote
- 10:20Speaker 2: on this.
- 10:20Speaker 1: That's correct, So at least the manager. I don't know
- 10:24Speaker 1: what influence the mayor has, but by Issue five, if
- 10:27Speaker 1: I understand correctly, it's the city managers RESPONSIBILITI well, and I.
- 10:30Speaker 2: Make the argument because the manager is at the behest
- 10:32Speaker 2: of the mayor, then we all know who's ultimately pulling
- 10:34Speaker 2: the strings here or operating the puppet as the case
- 10:38Speaker 2: may be. Fop nod so something seems to me out
- 10:42Speaker 2: of this very politicized thing that's going on to your sister,
- 10:48Speaker 2: the political nature of her being well put on administrative leave,
- 10:53Speaker 2: the wise of areforce, what led to this when things
- 10:55Speaker 2: seem to be so swimmingly wonderful, but with the relationship
- 11:00Speaker 2: need to be readdressed. Now. I thought Christopher Smithman had
- 11:02Speaker 2: a great idea, and I know that you've I think
- 11:06Speaker 2: you're in line at least along in a similar path
- 11:08Speaker 2: of Christopher's idea. Get the council members involved on some level.
- 11:11Speaker 2: What's your proposal? What do you think needs to be now.
- 11:14Speaker 1: One hundred percent agree with what both Kenny Kober, the
- 11:17Speaker 1: FOP president, and Chris Smithman wisely have shared in some fashion.
- 11:22Speaker 1: The authority to hire and or fire or remove for
- 11:26Speaker 1: whatever reason, for just cause should be somehow placed with council,
- 11:31Speaker 1: such as a seven of nine or a unanimous vote,
- 11:34Speaker 1: not a simple majority where you get five to four.
- 11:37Speaker 1: It should be a stronger. You're talking about people's livelihood.
- 11:39Speaker 1: You're talking about what impacts years of efforts and programs
- 11:42Speaker 1: and planning and resourcing. So it needs to be a
- 11:46Speaker 1: much deeper thought, and I think it has to go
- 11:49Speaker 1: in front of a body much larger than an individual.
- 11:51Speaker 2: Well, you said more than five, because of course I
- 11:55Speaker 2: remember Gang of five like it was yesterday. So you
- 11:57Speaker 2: can get some nefarious activity going on behind the scenes.
- 12:00Speaker 2: Set up firing. That's correct, easy to accomplish. Most notably,
- 12:04Speaker 2: did you know that there's a vote next week? We
- 12:06Speaker 2: get to vote on Tuesday and maybe change the administration.
- 12:08Speaker 2: Most notably, since all of the current council members are Democrat,
- 12:11Speaker 2: the likelihood of a uniform one ercent locks that vote
- 12:14Speaker 2: is almost assured. Under the current circumstances. We really do
- 12:18Speaker 2: need some different voices, Russ.
- 12:20Speaker 1: One of the reasons, obviously, the primary reason that I
- 12:24Speaker 1: come on and the family requests a voice is to
- 12:28Speaker 1: defend and support Terry. The second is to discuss voting
- 12:33Speaker 1: there is it's there's no simpler way to say it
- 12:37Speaker 1: than the city needs new leadership, specifically at the mayor's position.
- 12:43Speaker 1: Early votings on going, Brian. It's seven thirty seven thirty
- 12:47Speaker 1: Monday through Friday. If you want to early vote, early vote,
- 12:50Speaker 1: you've got time. It's open Saturday till four, open Sunday
- 12:54Speaker 1: till five. Please take advantage of the early voting and
- 12:57Speaker 1: a point I'd like to make is if you have
- 13:00Speaker 1: voted in years for whatever reason, but you're registered, just
- 13:05Speaker 1: to go to vote Hamilton County, Ohio dot org and
- 13:08Speaker 1: see if you're still a registered and approved voter and
- 13:11Speaker 1: go vote. Nothing will change, whether it be city or
- 13:16Speaker 1: in the future county, but specifically, nothing will change city.
- 13:19Speaker 1: If the people who think this is wrong, If the
- 13:22Speaker 1: people who think this is in humane are the people
- 13:25Speaker 1: out there who hear what the mayor says and says,
- 13:28Speaker 1: that's not the kind of leader I want leading our city.
- 13:31Speaker 1: Please vote. And I'm specifically talking to to some degree,
- 13:35Speaker 1: the west side of Cincinnati. I think the West side
- 13:38Speaker 1: of Cincinnati has an opportunity to protect themselves here. I
- 13:41Speaker 1: think they've been excluded from politics for quite a few years.
- 13:45Speaker 1: This is your chance to come out, make a vote,
- 13:47Speaker 1: change leadership and have a voice and a seat at
- 13:49Speaker 1: the table. In addition to the Hyde Parks and Mount
- 13:52Speaker 1: Washington's and Mount Lookouts, absolutely all fifty two communities, but
- 13:56Speaker 1: the fifteen on the West Side have been neglected. Brian
- 13:58Speaker 1: and I am begging them to come out and make
- 14:01Speaker 1: a vote.
- 14:01Speaker 2: Yeah, it's time to retake the flag over on the
- 14:03Speaker 2: west side.
- 14:04Speaker 1: I believe. So.
- 14:06Speaker 2: Listen, I grew up on the West Side. I'm a
- 14:08Speaker 2: delhesion by my roots man, and what has happened over
- 14:13Speaker 2: the years to you know, Price Hill and Westwood, it's
- 14:17Speaker 2: just deteriorated. And I'm not blaming any particular individual, but
- 14:20Speaker 2: it seems to me that the West Side's sort of
- 14:23Speaker 2: been the I don't know if I can put it
- 14:24Speaker 2: this way, the Section eight, you know, relocation area. I
- 14:29Speaker 2: know they rehabilitated and gentrified over the Rhine. A lot
- 14:32Speaker 2: of former Over the Rhine residents can't afford to live
- 14:34Speaker 2: there anymore. They had to go someplace. Don't know if
- 14:36Speaker 2: that's an issue or not. I just know the West
- 14:38Speaker 2: Side does not look like it did, say fifteen, even
- 14:40Speaker 2: twenty years.
- 14:41Speaker 1: And I'll even take it a step further. I do
- 14:43Speaker 1: focus on the West Side. That's where we grew up
- 14:45Speaker 1: and I grew up, and I think we have tremendous
- 14:47Speaker 1: support there and I hope they come out and vote.
- 14:49Speaker 1: Let's go back to fifty two communities in the city.
- 14:52Speaker 1: They deserve better leadership as they do, and the only
- 14:55Speaker 1: way they're going to get is if they potentially step
- 14:58Speaker 1: out of their comfort zone and vote different than historically
- 15:02Speaker 1: have voted and give somebody, a group of people an
- 15:05Speaker 1: opportunity to show more and better going forward for the city.
- 15:08Speaker 2: Well, I believe Corey Bowman does have prioritization, correct. I
- 15:12Speaker 2: know he is very anxious to get the roads resurfaced.
- 15:15Speaker 2: He's very anxious to do a better analysis of the
- 15:18Speaker 2: police department, support the police, get the contingent of police
- 15:21Speaker 2: officers up to a full contingent. He would take the
- 15:24Speaker 2: resources I think offered from the governor to get us
- 15:27Speaker 2: to that contingent, to see if that solves the crime
- 15:29Speaker 2: problem we've got going on here. At least try it.
- 15:32Speaker 2: Don't reimagine the police department. Just take up the resources
- 15:35Speaker 2: that you got in front of us. Let's see what
- 15:36Speaker 2: we can do.
- 15:37Speaker 1: If you sit back now and you believe that things
- 15:41Speaker 1: are good, consider voting the way you've been voting. If
- 15:45Speaker 1: you think change needs to be either, don't vote for
- 15:49Speaker 1: the current leadership when you go to vote for council
- 15:52Speaker 1: meaning the mayor or I go back to come out
- 15:56Speaker 1: of your comfort zone. Try something new and let's see
- 15:59Speaker 1: what we can do.
- 16:00Speaker 2: There will be another election down the road. Give them
- 16:03Speaker 2: a shot. You may be surprised. Russ Neville. Thank you
- 16:06Speaker 2: for your service to our community. Yeah, go ahead finish.
- 16:10Speaker 1: If I could. I just want to give a Facebook
- 16:12Speaker 1: a name and an email if people are interested in
- 16:16Speaker 1: following up. I Stand with Police Chief Thiji is the
- 16:20Speaker 1: Facebook page, and stand with chiefdig at gmail dot com.
- 16:26Speaker 1: Stand with CHIEFDG at gmail dot com is an email
- 16:29Speaker 1: that has been put out to help coordinate what we're
- 16:31Speaker 1: attempting to do.
- 16:32Speaker 2: Help out all you can and vote Russ Neville. Thank
- 16:36Speaker 2: you for your service to the community. Thank your entire
- 16:38Speaker 2: family for their service to our community, and of course
- 16:40Speaker 2: your sister for ongoing at least efforts to serve the
- 16:43Speaker 2: community while we have to deal with this current administration.
- 16:45Speaker 2: Hopefully TikTok TikTok coming to an end eight twenty six
- 16:49Speaker 2: right now Judgingenopoltana coming up next, I hope you can
- 16:51Speaker 2: stick around. Fifty five The talk station facing a cancer
- 16:58Speaker 2: diagnosis can be overwhelmed.