Latest / Brian Thomas / FOP Pres Ken Kober - $100K per kid in curfew centers

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FOP Pres Ken Kober - $100K per kid in curfew centers · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: It's six thirty one on our Wednesday listener Lunch Wednesday,
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  Speaker 1: Ron's Roos the place to be, Good time to be
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  Speaker 1: listening to the Thinkybob Casey Morning Show. I always truly
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  Speaker 1: appreciate the Fraternal Order Police President Ken Kobra, representive Sin
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  Speaker 1: Saint Police Department Union, joins the program. Welcome back, Ken,
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  Speaker 1: It's great having me back on the show. My friend.
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  Speaker 2: Thank good morning, Brian. Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm sure you saw the reporting. It's why we're
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  Speaker 1: talking today. The one hundred thousand dollars per kid curfew
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  Speaker 1: centers now, it's part of the five point four million
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  Speaker 1: dollar public safety money that was allocated last year in
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  Speaker 1: the aftermath of the well the beatdowns and other criminal activity.
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  Speaker 1: They said they're going to start enforcing the curse. He's
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  Speaker 1: strengthening the curfew for those under the age of eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: I will have a question on but in that five
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  Speaker 1: point four million was three hundred and eighty thousand dollars
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  Speaker 1: to operate curfew centers, one hundred and eighty five going
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  Speaker 1: to Seven Hills, one hundred and ninety five for the
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  Speaker 1: Lighthouse Youth and Family and according to Scott Wortman's reporting
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  Speaker 1: from the enquire the other day they did the research.
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  Speaker 1: There was a report from Interim Chief Henny only four
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  Speaker 1: youths were taken to the centers for since they opened
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  Speaker 1: in August.
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  Speaker 2: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: Just a straightforward question, Ken Cober, is these are the
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  Speaker 1: Cincinnti police officers really aggressively pursuing curfew or do they
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  Speaker 1: view it like any other minor crime that it's not
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  Speaker 1: worth the paperwork or hassle or headache. I'm just kind
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  Speaker 1: of curious.
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  Speaker 3: No, you know, it's something that I certainly I predicted
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  Speaker 3: that they weren't going to do it because these tops
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  Speaker 3: would be vilified if something went wrong, you know, and
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  Speaker 3: that's what they well, we're going to have them at
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  Speaker 3: four this Well they can say that all day long,
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  Speaker 3: but the reality is as soon as they do, and
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  Speaker 3: if something goes wrong, say it's something as simple as
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  Speaker 3: tasing a kid because the kid runs from you, it's
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  Speaker 3: it's something that they would you would make headlines you
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  Speaker 3: and they certainly worry about whether or not they would
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  Speaker 3: have the support of the city administration. So they just said,
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  Speaker 3: I'm not going to deal with this, and it's exactly
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  Speaker 3: what happened.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and that's a very sad reality, because if you
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  Speaker 1: don't believe the administration has the support they've directed this
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  Speaker 1: new curve. They've instituted this new curfew without loud statements
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  Speaker 1: of the effect that it's going to be enforced. But
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  Speaker 1: if they don't stand up for the officers doing exactly
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  Speaker 1: what they promised the residents of the city they were
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  Speaker 1: going to do, I imagine that transcends just curfew enforcement.
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  Speaker 1: That's just well, not supporting you in your efforts to
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  Speaker 1: enforce the laws on the books generally, isn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, sure, absolutely, you know.
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  Speaker 3: And the perfect example of a tangible way of showing
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  Speaker 3: the support that they've gotten from the city administration. We
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  Speaker 3: just graduated fifty four recruits this past week.
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  Speaker 1: Congratulations to them. That's good.
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  Speaker 2: We had had.
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  Speaker 3: Three council members three out of the nine that showed up. Oh,
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  Speaker 3: the mayor didn't show up. We had a city manager
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  Speaker 3: who swore swore the recruits in and then immediately.
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  Speaker 2: Left during the middle of ceremony.
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  Speaker 3: And that was the biggest question I had from officers,
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  Speaker 3: active officers that were there supporting these young folks that
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  Speaker 3: just graduated, and they're.
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  Speaker 2: Like, what was that.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, well, that's that's the unfortunate reality of what we're
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  Speaker 3: dealing with.
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  Speaker 1: That I'm sorry man, that I almost don't know how
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  Speaker 1: to react to that. I mean, a freebie press conference
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  Speaker 1: that will make the City of Cincinnati's representatives look like
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  Speaker 1: decent people, and only three show up and they don't
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  Speaker 1: even hang out. I'm appalled at that. In the absence
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  Speaker 1: of the mayor, that's like an ongoing problem. He doesn't
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  Speaker 1: show up to anything unless it involves a ribbon in
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  Speaker 1: some pet project of his.
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  Speaker 2: Ken.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, like I said, it's unfortunate, but you know we
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  Speaker 3: had you know, Seth Walls, Smart, Jefferies, and Scottie Johnson
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  Speaker 3: all showed up, which we're not surprises because all three
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  Speaker 3: of them have been staunch supporters of law enforcement, and
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  Speaker 3: we certainly appreciate that they showed up, but it was
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  Speaker 3: sad to see only three of nine council members actually
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  Speaker 3: show up to something like this. And you want to
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  Speaker 3: know why cops aren't going out and enforcing curfew.
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  Speaker 2: Here's exactly why.
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  Speaker 1: There's your answer right there. Ken Coverer want to pause
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  Speaker 1: on bringing back a couple more questions on that, but
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  Speaker 1: I also want to ask you about this signature effort
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  Speaker 1: to repeal the THHC laws. That's kind of generic questions
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  Speaker 1: about the legalization of weed and whether or not has
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  Speaker 1: had any impact on law enforcement. We'll talk with Ken
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  Speaker 1: Kober a little bit more coming to dog Station at
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  Speaker 1: six thirty nine fifty five Ker City Talk Station Brian
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  Speaker 1: Thomas withth FOP President Ken Kober talking about the curfew.
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  Speaker 1: We find out that the curfew centers really aren't being
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  Speaker 1: used or underutilized. Four children actually were taken to one
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  Speaker 1: of the curfew centers since the city allocated three hundred
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  Speaker 1: and eighty thousand dollars to keep them open. Interim police
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  Speaker 1: Chief Henny and the I guess assistant city council manager
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  Speaker 1: somebody anyway revealed that four a total of four kids
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  Speaker 1: were taken. Doing the math on that it doesn't really
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  Speaker 1: work out that well. Scottie Johnson, who was a former
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  Speaker 1: police chief or a police officer rather, he shares the
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  Speaker 1: he's on the Public Safety and Government Committee. I Ken
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  Speaker 1: said the curfew centers are necessary expense if you want
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  Speaker 1: a strong curfew. He said, you want young people off
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  Speaker 1: the streets at certain hours, Yeah, you do, because it's
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  Speaker 1: safety measure. But you want to make sure also the
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  Speaker 1: you have the resources available to accommodate young people when
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  Speaker 1: you want them off the city streets. That's logical. But
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  Speaker 1: if you're not enforcing the curfew at all, it becomes
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  Speaker 1: a pointless gesture to throw money at it.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: Henny, for his part, claims that the centers are worthwhile
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  Speaker 1: and we'll factor into the city's plan for addressing crime.
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  Speaker 3: In the summer.
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  Speaker 1: Right, Okay, we do have an uptick in juvenile crime
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  Speaker 1: in the summer, said, it may not have been utilized
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  Speaker 1: as much as people thought. I just think the understanding
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  Speaker 1: that we're taking curfew seriously as a city and as
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  Speaker 1: our neighborhoods. I think that really changed the direction that
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  Speaker 1: our young people were going at. Not quite sure what
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  Speaker 1: that means, but is it more perception than reality. By
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  Speaker 1: saying you have a curfew and that it's going to
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  Speaker 1: be enforced, that's all just the message goes out, Look,
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  Speaker 1: we have a place to take them. But to your point, Ken,
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  Speaker 1: they're not being enforced. An out loud question, I guess,
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  Speaker 1: first off, has interim police chief Henny ever said out loud,
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  Speaker 1: this is a lesser priority for officers. Don't bother, don't
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  Speaker 1: enforce them. Yeah, it's on the books, but we really
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  Speaker 1: don't want to interact with young people for all the
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  Speaker 1: reasons you said in the last statement. Or has he
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  Speaker 1: left it up to the officers to make their own
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  Speaker 1: individual determination of whether they want to actually enforce the curfew.
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  Speaker 3: No, he's left to the officers to decide, you know,
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  Speaker 3: what they thought's best in that moment. You know, he's
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  Speaker 3: he's certainly somebody that you know, he was the commander
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  Speaker 3: of the Central Business Section, so he saw how troubling
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  Speaker 3: youth can be, certainly in the downtown area. But yeah,
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  Speaker 3: he's not one to come out and just say, look,
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  Speaker 3: you will do this or you won't do this. He's
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  Speaker 3: gonna say, look, you are cops, you're being paid to
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  Speaker 3: do this job. Use your best judgment, and we'll live
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  Speaker 3: with that. And that was one of the things that
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  Speaker 3: I did think it was interesting that you just said,
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  Speaker 3: is that these are the things we're.
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  Speaker 2: Gonna do going forward.
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  Speaker 3: He could go to city council or go to the
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  Speaker 3: city manager and say, look, this isn't working. I don't
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  Speaker 3: think it's a good idea, and they're gonna do whatever
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  Speaker 3: they want to do anyway.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, they might take his advice, they might not
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  Speaker 2: but ultimately he's just doing.
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  Speaker 3: What he has to deal with, and I certainly appli
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  Speaker 3: for trying to make some of these things work when
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  Speaker 3: maybe or maybe not he thinks that these are good ideas,
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  Speaker 3: but it's what he's being told to do, so I get.
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  Speaker 2: It all right.
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  Speaker 1: To the broader question, I can understand why an officer
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't bother going through the exercise of picking up one
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  Speaker 1: of these young people that said. Do officers regularly encounter
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  Speaker 1: curfew violators? Is this an ongoing issue? I know it's
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  Speaker 1: winter time, maybe fewer people out, but since it's been
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  Speaker 1: enacted this curfew, have there been a lot of you know,
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  Speaker 1: officers engaging with young people. I understand not taking him
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  Speaker 1: to the drop off centers, but is this happening still?
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  Speaker 1: Are there violators out there that you see all the
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  Speaker 1: time or is this just sort of a random thing.
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  Speaker 1: There's really not that many.
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  Speaker 3: Well, certainly in the wintertime it's become less. But after
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  Speaker 3: they announced that this curfew was going to take place,
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  Speaker 3: I'm asking officers daily, especially third shift officers.
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  Speaker 2: Downtown, and they said the same thing. It's like, listen,
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  Speaker 2: as soon as we saw a.
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  Speaker 3: Group of kids that were out twelve thirty one o'clock
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  Speaker 3: in the morning, they immediately scattered. So I do think
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  Speaker 3: in some respects it is at least paying dividends that
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  Speaker 3: there's at least the fear that they may be taking
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  Speaker 3: in these curfew centers. So in that respect it's working.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, obviously, you know the tangible result of
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  Speaker 3: this of saying, hey, there's only been four Obviously that
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  Speaker 3: certainly is concerning.
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  Speaker 1: It is And I guess the broad up question in
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  Speaker 1: terms of enforcement as a police officer, and I know
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  Speaker 1: you might have some suspicion that someone's under the age
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  Speaker 1: of eighteen, but how can you tell when looking across
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  Speaker 1: a city block or something that any given kid might
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  Speaker 1: be a curfew violator or not you have to actually
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  Speaker 1: stop them and card them or something or inquire about
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  Speaker 1: their age.
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  Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean you can typically tell. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: if it's hard to tell between being seventeen or eighteen, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: but I mean there are kids out here that are
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  Speaker 3: running around they're twelve and thirteen years old that are
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  Speaker 3: obvious that you're, based off of being only five foot tall,
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  Speaker 3: that they are likely not eighteen years old. And the
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  Speaker 3: interesting part about this is we talk about curfews is.
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  Speaker 3: I'm currently in Washington, DC, and I went after we
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  Speaker 3: get to some meetings with a congressman yesterday and go
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  Speaker 3: over to Union Station, which is a right by Capitol Hill,
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  Speaker 3: and we go out there and there are juveniles everywhere,
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  Speaker 3: just running amock and what's there the National Guard, DC
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  Speaker 3: Metro Police. So this is not an issue that is
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  Speaker 3: unique to Cincinnati. This is happening in every major city
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  Speaker 3: across the country, dealing with juveniles that are just out
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  Speaker 3: of control.
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  Speaker 1: Out of control, and of course, the idea it's so
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  Speaker 1: I mean, as we've seen in Minneapolis with the protesters
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  Speaker 1: against ice, it's so easy to coordinate activities and for
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  Speaker 1: young people to communicate, Hey, we're going to meet down
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  Speaker 1: at Government Square. Show up at ten o'clock, bring your
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  Speaker 1: motorcycle or whatever. And then of course the cops are
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  Speaker 1: coming and they easily disperse. So communication alone is I'm
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  Speaker 1: sure compound of the problem. Plus I think there's just
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  Speaker 1: a general deterioration of morals and ethics in this country.
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  Speaker 1: But real quick, here in Ohio they passed SB fifty six,
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  Speaker 1: which curbed and limited and I guess criminalized on some level,
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  Speaker 1: repealing some of the just freedom that people have voted
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  Speaker 1: for in terms of legalization of marijuana. Rather than focus
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  Speaker 1: on this repeal effort of Senate Bill fifty six, I
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  Speaker 1: just want to ask you, since marijuana has been legalized
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  Speaker 1: and rather recreationally in the state of Ohio, has that
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  Speaker 1: impacted law enforcement? Have you noticed a significant change in
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  Speaker 1: the amount of weed you encounter see has it caused
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  Speaker 1: an upticking crime? From your perspective, can you trace any
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  Speaker 1: changes in you know, criminal activity or what's going on
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  Speaker 1: in the city to the legalization of marijuana.
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  Speaker 3: Ken Now, I think the only thing, the only real
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  Speaker 3: impact it's had is the revalence of it in public.
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  Speaker 3: To smell it, It's like it seems like everywhere you go,
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  Speaker 3: that's all you smell. But you know, the reality is
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  Speaker 3: this is what the voters in Ohio vote is.
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  Speaker 2: For, so that's what they get.
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  Speaker 3: But as far as like crime and things like that,
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  Speaker 3: I don't think it's really had much of an impact,
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  Speaker 3: you know, a day to day business. You know, it's
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  Speaker 3: something that for years kind of has been hands off anyway,
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  Speaker 3: because you look at it. I mean, it's funny how
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  Speaker 3: far we've gone from you know, the early two thousands
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  Speaker 3: when city council passed an ordinance to make or since
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  Speaker 3: they means well, code to make possession of marijuana and
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  Speaker 3: m four and we were we were taking people to
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  Speaker 3: jail for having a joint. And then now we're going, nope,
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  Speaker 3: you know what, it's completely decriminalized.
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  Speaker 2: We're not doing this.
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  Speaker 3: And and then city Council goes and says, you know what,
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  Speaker 3: We're going to make sure that we can expunge anyone
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  Speaker 3: record who wants to have it expunged for possession of marijuana.
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  Speaker 3: So it's just it's funny to see in the matter
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  Speaker 3: of twenty years how much things have changed.
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  Speaker 2: It really is.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, obviously, illegal immigration and ICE activities all the
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  Speaker 1: topic of conversation, at least dominating the topic of conversation.
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  Speaker 1: I rarely read about the City of Cincinnatian and so
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  Speaker 1: far as illegal immigrants. I know the Parvow administration has
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  Speaker 1: declared the City of Cincinna sanctuary city. Does that mean
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  Speaker 1: that you and the members of the Sincinnate Police Department
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  Speaker 1: are not working with ice or otherwise letting Ice know
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  Speaker 1: when you're getting ready to let somebody out of lock up,
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  Speaker 1: or maybe you know about the way the Sheriff's office
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  Speaker 1: is doing that. I'm just curious to know that component
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  Speaker 1: real quick, yes or no. But also do you encounter
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  Speaker 1: the quote unquote illegal immigrants very often in doing law enforcement?
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  Speaker 1: Is it an issue here in the city.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I could tell you we see it all the time. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: where there's somebody here that are they Are they here
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  Speaker 3: illegally or illegally conor hard to say?
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  Speaker 2: You know when they don't have an ID.
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  Speaker 3: You know they don't they give you a name and
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  Speaker 3: say this is who I am, and they're not in
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  Speaker 3: a computer. But that's not the function of the Cincinnati
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  Speaker 3: Police Department now. And I think it's important for people
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  Speaker 3: to understand too. In one of the meetings that I
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  Speaker 3: had yesterday with Senator Moreno, and he made it clear
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  Speaker 3: he's like, I can only control what goes on in Ohio,
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  Speaker 3: being a senator from Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: He goes, However, if.
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  Speaker 3: ICE is going to come and do some kind of
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  Speaker 3: targeted operation, he goes, I fully expect that they're going
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  Speaker 3: to reach out to whatever jurisdiction that they're in and
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  Speaker 3: let them know, Hey, this is what's going on.
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  Speaker 2: What we're going to do. There's no surprises, And I.
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  Speaker 3: Can tell you as of now there have been none
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  Speaker 3: of these targeted operations, certainly in the city of Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 3: I know Columbus has had some things going on, but
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  Speaker 3: Senator Miranda Goyes, listen, we want full transparency. We want
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  Speaker 3: people to know, especially law enforcement agencies, to know, Hey,
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  Speaker 3: this is what's going on exactly that way. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we don't have you know, a local jurisdiction going what
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  Speaker 3: the heck are these people doing here?
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  Speaker 2: You know, and that just common sense.
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  Speaker 3: When I was in the Fugitive Union, if we were
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: going to go serve a warrant in another jurisdiction, we
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: would contact them and say, hey, we're looking for somebody
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: that's wanted for murder. You know, we're in your jurisdiction.
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  Speaker 3: Just understand this is what we're here doing. That way,
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  Speaker 3: if you see some pops running around that aren't in uniform,
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  Speaker 3: you're not going to hecker these people and what are
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  Speaker 3: they doing.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's a common sense approach.
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  Speaker 1: It is a total common sense approach.
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  Speaker 2: So good.
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad to hear that communications in place. And Ken Cober,
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  Speaker 1: I can't thank you for coming to the show and
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: updating my listeners on this and trying to make some
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: sense out of all of an FLP President Ken Cober,
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  Speaker 1: you have a welcome spot on the fifty five Casey
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  Speaker 1: Morning Show, and as I always ended the segment, God
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  Speaker 1: bless you all the members of the since A law
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: enforcement and law enforcement generally speaking, my listening audience, and
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  Speaker 1: I definitely have your guys backs.