Latest / Brian Thomas / Dan Carroll talks to FOP Pres Ken Kober

Transcript

Dan Carroll talks to FOP Pres Ken Kober · Brian Thomas

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Fifty five KRC, the talk station. Dan Carroll in for
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Brian Thomas, little intro music for our buddy Ken Kober
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: right there, the main man at the Cincinnati Fop. And
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: I was I was doing something yesterday and I got
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a text message from Joe Strecker and he says, hey,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: you got Ken Cobra at six point thirty. So I said,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: that's fine with me. I haven't talked to Kennon a
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: little bit and Ken Cober, great to have you on
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: this morning. How you doing.
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Dan, Thanks for having me.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: How are you never a dull moment? Never a dull
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  Speaker 1: moment in your world?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Is it? No? No, They're Nora?
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Is unbelievable. According to our friend Signal ninety nine, over
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: fifty arrests, more than seventy vehicles towed. That has got
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: account for a pretty busy night for our friends in
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  Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Police Force.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there were there were a lot of
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  Speaker 2: resources expended to make sure that these people couldn't do
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  Speaker 2: some of the things that they wanted to do and
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: endanger the community, which I certainly applaud the cops for doing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought this business of the attempted street takeovers
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  Speaker 1: had sort of run its course. It seems like it's
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: been a little while since we had an event like this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we have had some success stopping this nonsense, you know,
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  Speaker 2: or at least identifying some of the people evolved been
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: going back and charging them. But this group, primarily, I
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: think it was like eighty five percent of this group
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  Speaker 2: weren't from Cincinnati, so they may not have understood that
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  Speaker 2: we've been taking this seriously and we are going to
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: find a way to stop this nonsense.
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  Speaker 1: So when they do these street takeovers, what do they do.
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  Speaker 1: A bunch of people with souped up cars, They get
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  Speaker 1: together and just block off an area and then just
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  Speaker 1: do crazy stuff. How do these things work?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they basically just go out and try
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  Speaker 2: to try to be a menace. They'll stop. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I've seen it back when I was of the Beat.
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  Speaker 2: They shut down Second Street at midnight on a Saturday night,
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  Speaker 2: where cars couldn't go anywhere, and they would block the
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  Speaker 2: intersection and then just do doughnuts, you know, revel engines,
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  Speaker 2: you know, do burnouts, all this nonsense just to create chaos.
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  Speaker 2: And I imagine you it's midnight on a Saturday night,
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  Speaker 2: you're asleep and one of these nice apartments downtown, and
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  Speaker 2: all of a sudden you hear a bunch of motors
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  Speaker 2: reven and tires squealing, and it just becomes a quality
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  Speaker 2: of life issue, not to mention how dangerous it could
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  Speaker 2: be for some of these onlookers. One of these cars
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  Speaker 2: loses control. But what ultimately ends up happening is the
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  Speaker 2: police get there. They go to break it up. And
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  Speaker 2: what do these fools do. They take off in every
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  Speaker 2: direction as fast as they can, with absolutely zero regard
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  Speaker 2: for safety, running red lights. I watched a cargo about
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  Speaker 2: eighty five miles an hour down Second Street on a
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  Speaker 2: busy Saturday night. Just these people have no regard for
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  Speaker 2: any safety whatsoever.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember, I want to say it was a
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  Speaker 1: couple of years ago. There was an incident similar to
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: this one when we had over the weekend and it
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  Speaker 1: was down on Fort Washington Way, and it was the
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  Speaker 1: guy who would and I forget his name, his name
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: escapes me at the time, but he was a meteorologist
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  Speaker 1: for Channel nine and he was on his way was
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  Speaker 1: on a weekend, and so he was working a weekend shift.
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  Speaker 1: He's on his way out of the station, he's coming
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  Speaker 1: through the litle tunnel and he gets to the other
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  Speaker 1: end of the tunnel and they've got Fort Washington Way
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  Speaker 1: blocked off and they're and they're doing the street takeover
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  Speaker 1: down there on Fort Washington Way. And he and he
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  Speaker 1: just drove up right on this right after this had
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: had gotten started, and he said he was approached by
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  Speaker 1: people in this group and he felt threatened for his
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  Speaker 1: safety because and all he was the one was sitting
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  Speaker 1: in their mind in his own business. So is this
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  Speaker 1: another component of these street takeovers where if anyone threatens
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: to to get in their way or tries to get
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  Speaker 1: through that they that they threaten these people with violence.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, not to mention, I believe there were three
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  Speaker 2: guns that were recovered as a result of this chaos
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  Speaker 2: that went on Saturday. And I understand this. This didn't
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  Speaker 2: just start like, Hey, we're going to meet here and
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  Speaker 2: we're gonna do this. While these folks are all gathering together,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they're driving recklessly through the city east side
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  Speaker 2: of the city to west side downtown. There were multiple
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  Speaker 2: officers stop people at different locations. There were cars that
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  Speaker 2: fled from the police before they even get started with
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  Speaker 2: this nonsense. So these aren't like these are law abiding
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  Speaker 2: citizens and said, hey, why don't you come take a
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  Speaker 2: look at my really fancy sports car. These are people
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  Speaker 2: that are there that have ill intent, that don't have
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  Speaker 2: any regard for safety of anybody. And it's only an
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  Speaker 2: out of a time before somebody gets killed in one
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  Speaker 2: of these incidents.
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  Speaker 1: So seventy cars towed in all that to me sounds
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  Speaker 1: like that had to take a little while. And I
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  Speaker 1: would imagine while this is going on, these people can't
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  Speaker 1: be very happy that their expensive cars are getting towed away.
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  Speaker 2: What was that like, Yeah, yeah, and there's almost almost
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  Speaker 2: forty people went to jail. And understand there are more
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  Speaker 2: people that are going to be arrested because of this.
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  Speaker 2: You know, the law is very very clear in Ohio
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  Speaker 2: for the street racing that you don't have to be
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  Speaker 2: the driver of the vehicle if you are a participant
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  Speaker 2: and one of these things, and that could be taking
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  Speaker 2: video of it, that could be you know, handing out
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  Speaker 2: popcorn to spectators, you know, cheering them on. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they're going to go through all this video evidence and
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  Speaker 2: if they can identify more people, they're going to charge
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  Speaker 2: more people. But to your point, yeah, there are a
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  Speaker 2: lot of people that weren't really happy about having their
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  Speaker 2: cars towed. But you know, the fortunate part of this is,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they have been monitoring this group of people
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  Speaker 2: for a while and they finally got them to the
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  Speaker 2: point where they're in a parking lot where we can
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  Speaker 2: keep them contained. This is all I do is put
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: out stop sticks, and if you run over the stopsticks,
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: well you're going to have four flat tires. So it
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  Speaker 2: ended about as safely as it possibly could have.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it just it just goes to show that more
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  Speaker 1: excellent work by our men and women in uniform in
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  Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Police Department. Ken, can you can you hang
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  Speaker 1: on for a quick break? I got a couple more
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  Speaker 1: questions on the other side.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, things all right.
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  Speaker 1: Stay right there with Ken Kobra and we'll get back
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  Speaker 1: to him in a fifty five KRC the talk station.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: This is fifty five KRC and iHeartRadio Steam the talk station.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Fifty five KRC the Talk station, and Carroll and for
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  Speaker 1: Brian Thomas, continuing our conversation with Ken Cober. Now and
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  Speaker 1: Ken Cober, we talked about the event, the street takeover,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: and that happened in District four. Then went down towards downtown.
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  Speaker 1: So that was a crazy event overnight. So we see this,
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  Speaker 1: and we see this in the wake of the review
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  Speaker 1: of the city manager. And I'm looking at this review
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  Speaker 1: and the first point on the city manager's review in
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  Speaker 1: which the city council gave her a great review, which
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  Speaker 1: I believe, if I'm not mistaken, she wrote the review herself,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: was public safety. That point number one, public safety and health.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: And apparently we don't just find in that category. How
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: would you size up the area, especially when it comes
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: to public safety in Cincinnati these.
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  Speaker 2: Days, it's certainly a rough first ten or eleven weeks
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  Speaker 2: of the year. Shootings are up drastically. I know, homicides
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: are up drastically, So I think i'd argue right now,
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  Speaker 2: especially in some of the coldest months of this year,
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  Speaker 2: probably not succeeding with the safety plan.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the number that was reported was in Cincinnati so
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  Speaker 1: far this year, sixty shootings are up. The number of
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  Speaker 1: people shot in Cincinnati sixty two point five percent this
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  Speaker 1: period of time over last year's period of time. That
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  Speaker 1: to me sounds like a pretty big number.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it certainly is a very big number, especially
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  Speaker 2: when you're talking about really the months of January and February,
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  Speaker 2: which historically have been you know, lower crime months just
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: because it's cold, people don't want to go out things
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  Speaker 2: like that. But yeah, I mean it, it is certainly alarming.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, we're starting to see the ripple effect
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  Speaker 2: of you know, zero accountability in the court system, zero accountability,
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  Speaker 2: and just in the social networks. I mean, you see
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  Speaker 2: what's accepted when people you see what people put on
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  Speaker 2: social media about different shootings, and they just it's it's
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  Speaker 2: become so commonplax, people become so numb to it. They
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  Speaker 2: just expected it to happen. And you know, of course,
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  Speaker 2: you know there's no accountability. You've got that many more gunmen,
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  Speaker 2: You've got that many known shooters that are running around Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 2: It's no surprise that shootings are up.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have any sense of anything that is happening
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  Speaker 1: in the situation with the Chief Theresa Thigi obviously suspended,
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  Speaker 1: The investigation has been going on, it's been extended a
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  Speaker 1: couple of times. Now, do you have any sense, Ken Kober,
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  Speaker 1: that we're going to see any movement in that area,
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  Speaker 1: any significant movement as it relates to Chief eg Now.
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  Speaker 2: I kind of hard to believe. I mean, they just
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: keep on punning every month, and I don't know if
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  Speaker 2: I hope so this just goes away that people forget
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  Speaker 2: about it. I don't know. I mean it's I don't
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  Speaker 2: see a scenario where the chief comes back. But I
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  Speaker 2: also don't see a scenario where the city gets man,
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  Speaker 2: we messed up. This isn't how we should be treating
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  Speaker 2: somebody that's done, you know, three and a half decades
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  Speaker 2: of service to the city, and we're going to make
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  Speaker 2: this right to you. I just don't see the city
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  Speaker 2: doing the right thing.
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  Speaker 1: But in a real sense, though, how does this filter down?
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  Speaker 1: How does it when when you deal with the men
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  Speaker 1: and women that you deal with every day, who are
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  Speaker 1: on the streets, who are going to roll call every day,
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  Speaker 1: when they look at this situation and they see this
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  Speaker 1: is happening to the chief, does that translate to them
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  Speaker 1: and all looking at look at I mean, here's my
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  Speaker 1: own personal situation, and if they can do something like
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  Speaker 1: this to the chief, what about me?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, it is absolutely a reality. That's the first
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  Speaker 2: thing that cops have said is if they'll do this
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  Speaker 2: to the police chief, what will they do me. I'm
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: just a police officer. Now I go out and I
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: do you know, I do the right thing, and somehow
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  Speaker 2: politicians don't like it. Is this? How is this how
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be treated? And then you have this
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  Speaker 2: This has been going on now for months and it's like, Okay, well,
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  Speaker 2: who's ultimately going to be in charge of this police department?
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  Speaker 2: The men and women in this police department deserves to
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: know who the leadership is going to be moving forward.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: And I guess we assume right now just because interim
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Chief Henny's been here. And believe me, I mean he's
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: done a good job. I think a lot of people
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: like him. But you know, still it's like, what are
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: we doing? We need to have some finality here, and
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: I think it's something that either City Hall doesn't recognize
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: or they just don't care well well.
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  Speaker 1: And I get the sense that Chief Henny is is
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: really not in the loop either when it comes to information,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: and so that's got to affect the way he does
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  Speaker 1: his job.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Well. Sure, anytime you have an interim chief, and I've
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: seen this throughout my career several times, you know where
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: it makes it difficult for an interim chief to come
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: in and make some of the changes that they believe
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: that should be fit chief. And he's made some changes.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: I do believe that there's more things that he would
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: like to do. But it's hard when it's hard when
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: you're just the aium to make some really really drastic
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: changes just because you don't know if you're going to
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: be there or no.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: And that's just it. I mean, you've got to be
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: You've got to be gun shy when it comes to
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: pulling that trigger or getting irons in the fire. And
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: then you know, a couple of weeks or a couple
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: of months later, well, the the you know, the old
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: chief is coming back. So all this stuff that I
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: had going, well, we've got to put that on hold
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: or wipe all that out because you know, look, I mean,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: the chief is the chief. The Chief's got to have
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: their own policies.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Certainly makes you wonder if this is done by design?
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: What was this done by design? I don't know.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I mean, look I look at it from
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: from the position I'm in, I'm frustrated by it. But you,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: I mean you you live it every day, and the
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: men and women who where there were uniform, they live
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: it every day. And I can only imagine the level
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: of frustration on top of everything else that goes on
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: with the revolving door that we have at the Justice
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: center and everything else.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, it's it just ripped the band aid off.
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  Speaker 2: Make a decision. We'll live with it, just like we've
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: done every other time that some discuss has happened. So
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: just I wish they would just be transparent making decision
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: so we can all move on. Yeah, regardless of what
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: that looks like, we should be able to move on.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Uh, you know, we we appreciate the transparency from the
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: police department as far as the neighborhood crime reports, the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: numbers of shootings, the breakdown of the crimes. Uh, the
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: the you know, the the burglaries, the thefts, the all
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: the rest of it. The shootings, it's the numbers are
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: not good and so that needs to be addressed in
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: a serious way. Are there going to be a bunch
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: of these cars up for auction sometime soon or these
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: people going to get their cars back?
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Well, it certainly depends. You know, it depends on if
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: they're going to come down and pay the fees that
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: are going to be associated with this. I suspect the
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: cars are going to be at least held up for
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: evidence for a while, so I don't know. We'll see. Hopefully,
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  Speaker 2: hopefully that's how it all turns out. They'll stop this
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: nonsense in Cincinnati.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: All right, Ken Cober, We appreciate the time. Always great
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: to have you on, great talking to you. Keep up
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the great work and all the best to you and
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: everyone in the Cincinnati Police Force. We appreciate what you
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: do and stay safe out there. Brother. We're talking to
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: you again soon.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Great Dan, thanks for having me. Thank you.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: There you go. Ken Cober the head of the FOP
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: here in Cincinnati. He always appreciate his time.