A recent spike in crime in Cincinnati has slowed down, but numbers are still higher than this time last year.
Data from the Cincinnati Police Department shows violent crimes (homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) from June 1 to June 28 was 11% higher than the same time last year. That's slightly down from a 17% increase for the time period of May 25 to June 21.
Mayor Aftab Pureval says he takes full responsibility for public safety in the city.
"We take very seriously public safety in our community," Pureval told WVXU. "80% of our operating budget goes to public safety. So much of our time and kind of mental bandwidth is focused on public safety, particularly during the summer months."
Police efforts include expanded use of drones and focusing on specific crime problems with a new task force of about 30 officers. Pureval says his administration is also working to reduce poverty, which he says is a primary long-term cause of violence.
"You've got some challenges that are contributing to that," Pureval said. "Number one ... in some instances, crazy gun laws that we have here in the state of Ohio contribute to it. The accessibility of guns, particularly amongst our children, is contributing to it. Social media, we know, is contributing to the violence."
Mayor Pureval spoke with WVXU's Cincinnati Edition about what the data shows and how the city is responding, fielding questions from Cincinnati Edition Host Lucy May as well as several listeners who called or emailed. You can listen to the full discussion by hitting the play button above. Here are his answers to a few key questions.
These excerpts from the full interview have been edited for length and clarity.
Earlier this year, crime was trending down. What happened?
Yeah, you know, it's incredibly frustrating, let me say, to see the extraordinary work that CPD, the administration, the communities, have done over the past three years to see significant decreases in crime up until this month. All of our numbers were trending in the right direction, particularly compared to when we took office in January of 2022. I mean, even when we did our pre-summer press conference around crime — because crime always increases, tragically, during the summer — even at that point we were looking really, really strong.
But this past month has been a real challenge and the causes of it are manifold. Obviously, the long term causes of violence are poverty — without question. But you've got some challenges that are contributing to that. Number one ... in some instances, crazy gun laws that we have here in the state of Ohio contribute to it. The accessibility of guns, particularly amongst our children, is contributing to it. Social media, we know, is contributing to the violence. And then finally — and this is more anecdotal; there's less data to back this up, so I hesitate to bring it up — but there does seem to be a sense that people are on edge, given what's happening around the world and in the country, and that is manifesting through violence. And so the challenge is significant.
We take very seriously public safety in our community. 80% of our operating budget goes to public safety. So much of our time and kind of mental bandwidth is focused on public safety, particularly during the summer months. And I'm so grateful to [Police] Chief [Teresa] Theetge for making these significant CPD changes in the short term in order to address it, including this roving task force, the increased use of drones, and, of course, the lateral class, which will bring 50 additional police officers to our city that have training and experience.
So we are up for the task. We have a strong plan in place to mitigate the violence, but it is frustrating. You know, it's completely unacceptable. Enough is enough from the city's perspective, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that we get this under control.
From a listener: Could the city use fewer police officers for things like traffic control, or use red light cameras for traffic enforcement, to free up officers to prevent and respond to crime?
I don't think that's a good idea, and I hate to speak so frankly. But just getting to the core of it, we need traffic enforcement, in addition to making sure that we are mitigating gun violence. What we have seen — particularly early on before we took some significant actions like the very annoying speed humps throughout the city — what we have found is that we have more and more reckless drivers that are putting pedestrians and others at risk. We've had several tragedies over the past three years that we are working very hard to fix, particularly in our school zones.
Red light cameras is something that I support, but it would require a charter change at the city level, because right now, our [charter] makes it very difficult for us to deploy that. There are also some state level kind of obstacles; for every dollar that red light camera generates in revenue through tickets, that is taken out of our local government fund at the state level. So there's a big disincentive to providing red light cameras. I still support it, but it would take some significant changes at both the state and local level to make it as effective as possible.
It's also important to know that this roving task force of about 30 additional officers in our hot spot areas aren't taking away from regular patrols or from when you call 911, or when we're enforcing traffic conditions. So it's it's only a value add.
From a listener: The rise in crime among kids and teenagers has been outrageous lately, and truly, they're just bored and they have nowhere to go and nothing to do. I think that instead of more high end restaurants or super expensive apartments Downtown, we should really put an emphasis on a community center and a more community-driven place for these kids to go.
I love that idea. In fact, that's what we're doing. We just broke ground on a several hundred-million dollar rec center in north OTR near Findlay Market, called the Findlay Rec Center. That is specifically to address that concern from the caller.
I would push back on the idea that there's nothing for them to do. We have Rec at Nite, which occurs for teenagers at our rec centers, late at night. That last year was awarded a state award for crime mitigation. You have to remember, last year we saw a 35% decrease in shootings amongst our teens, and part of that success was kind of programming at night, like Rec at Nite. We've opened up all of our pools — every single city pool is open this summer, which is the, I think, only the second time that that has happened. Last year was the first time since the pandemic. We spend so much money on youth employment, on making sure that there are activities for kids to do in the evenings and on the weekends.
I'm a parent. I have a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old. And if the city knows — if I know where your kids are more than you do, that is a significant problem. And so it's hard for me to take the excuse that there's nothing for these kids to do. There are so many things for the kids to do, so many things that the city funds for them to do, but I do think we need more parental engagement to hold our kids accountable to parents. Because right now, you know this, this past weekend, we had several hundred unattended teens just unfortunately running through the city, and that is completely unacceptable.
And then I would also add, we just cut the ribbon on a new Boys and Girls club in Roll Hill earlier this year or late last year. So we are building rec centers and community centers in specifically areas where there are crime, because we agree that that is part of the strategy to mitigate it.
From a listener: How do you know that car break-ins are often for the purpose of stealing guns, rather than joy rides or other activities?
Because by and large, they're not stealing the car, they're breaking in, looking around for a gun, not finding a gun, and moving on to the next car. If they were just stealing the car for a joy ride and, you know, just having a good time, then that would be what they were doing. And unfortunately, that's not the case.
If a car is stolen, it's stolen for specifically a criminal pursuit, but for the most part, the cars are being broken in, and the time spent on each car is very, very limited. We see that in not just the data, we also see it in the video evidence that we have, and we see it in our post interviews with the suspects when we arrest them. So this is not an opinion. This is what is happening.
And so to help us, if you could please both lock your car and also do not leave guns in your cars. That would be very helpful. If they keep finding guns in cars Downtown, then they'll continue to break into cars.
From a listener: I live in East Price Hill and have seen a big increase in police patrol cars in my area over the past few weeks. Why is that?
I appreciate the caller letting us know that she sees it. Hopefully more of the city sees it as well.
But I will just, just a word of caution: Police visibility is an important aspect of this, absolutely. But it is not a panacea. It is not going to alone fix it. And you just have to look at, you know, when we have violence at The Banks there. There is a SWAT tank, basically, with so many SWAT members right there. And that doesn't prevent shootings. When you see what happened on Main Street a few summers ago with the mass shooting, there was a police officer standing 20 feet away from where that shooting happened. And so we take very seriously the visibility of our police officers. We do believe that it helps, not just with prevention, but also with deterrence. But it alone cannot be the only strategy, and it's certainly not the only strategy that we're deploying.
From a listener: A particular hot spot for violence and crime in OTR seems to be a large gas station and convenience store. Can this establishment be closed as a nuisance establishment, like a bar that sells alcohol?
The answer is yes. That is an area in north OTR, really, on the kind of border of south OTR and north OTR that has been a critical spot for several years. All options are on the table as it relates to either shutting it down or redeveloping it into a different site. Gas stations are hard for redevelopment purposes because they require so many brownfield remediation dollars, but that certainly isn't stopping us from being as creative as possible. And again, we devote so much of our resources towards [public safety], and economic development is a critical tool in addressing and mitigating violence, and so we're definitely interested in flexing that muscle if necessary.
Does the city have a legal mechanism for holding parents accountable if teens or young people are getting in trouble time and time again?
We're looking at that with our solicitor's office right now. Look, there's pros and cons to it. I'm at a point now with how many unattended teens there are, particularly on weekend nights, where something has to change. It is out of control, and I think holding parents accountable has to be part of that conversation, particularly for kids who have already been in trouble before. The parents should be on notice that they need to have a little bit more engagement and better understand where they are at night. I don't know what that looks like at this moment.
I will say that part of my concern in going down this path is, not making a bad situation worse. You know, I don't inherently believe that some people don't care about their kids. I refuse to believe that. I'm sure there are significant challenges that that family is experiencing that makes it difficult to be more involved in their kids lives. But we do so much to support vulnerable families that there does have to be some accountability at some point, and we're exploring that.
Is there any call to prosecute these young people differently?
You know, that's a question for the prosecutor. I would say, I do think there is growing frustration within our police department about, you know, doing all the work to hold a teen accountable, and then, for whatever reason in the justice system, the kind of consequence of their actions isn't necessarily congruent from a lot of people's perspective. I have been working with our solicitor's office to take a look at any, you know, cases or determinations that are questionable or people have a concern about and really getting to the facts of what happened.
It's not always just on the judges, right? The judges can only decide on the facts that are presented to them and the information that's presented to them. And oftentimes — particularly when you're dealing with bond — these hearings are a matter of minutes, if not seconds, and so it can be difficult, just given how many cases there are, to paint a full picture from the prosecutor's perspective. And so, you know, whether that means having a CPD officer in these hearings to more effectively flesh out all the details and all the evidence that we have on the alleged perpetrators, that might be an option. But we are looking at ways to strengthen the communication between CPD, the prosecutor's office, and then ultimately what gets presented to the judge, because I think there is an area of improvement there.
Some Republicans say that crime is spiking in cities controlled by Democrats. How do you respond to that?
I think it's stupid. I mean, irrespective of your political ideology, we all want safety. I think it's easy to blame partisan politics when things are challenging. But you know, it's not as if I am being... I'm deploying strategies consistent with a partisan ideology. What I love about being mayor is that, you know, whether it's a Republican or Democratic idea, the most important thing from my perspective is, does it work? Is it effective? And you know, particularly with public safety, politics goes out the window.
What is most important to me is that people can live and thrive in a city where they are safe, but also, importantly, where they feel safe. And when extremes take over the conversation, whether the extreme of defund the police, which is also idiotic, or the extreme of just, you know, arresting our way out of any problem. Those kind of partisan ideologue ways of approaching crime are just ineffective and oftentimes makes it worse.
Governing is much harder than political slogans, and as mayor, it's my job to make sure that all stakeholders are engaged, that the community is engaged, and that we're pursuing strategies that actually make people safer.
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