The President of the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police is asking city council to close its investigation into the April death of 16-year-old Kyle Plush.
Dan Hils emailed a statement to media outlets Monday morning expressing his concerns.
"The continuing series of investigations are not productive," Hils wrote. "They are not in the best interest of the community, the city departments and the public servants involved. My personal opinion is that this is political theater and blame game is also not helpful to the Plush family or their grief and healing process."
Hils said he'll ask the FOP membership to vote on a motion next Monday asking that council stop any investigations.
"The Fraternal Order of Police and its legal team will resist any further interviewing of the officers involved," Hils wrote. "Three separate investigations have cleared the police officers involved of any willful negligence. They also have been traumatized by Kyle's tragic loss and deserve closure."
Hils expressed similar concerns about the Plush incident on the group's Facebook page last week.
Kyle Plush died in April after getting trapped in a minivan in the Seven Hills School parking lot. He called 911 twice that day seeking help, but responding officers weren't able to locate him. His father eventually located him about six hours after his first 911 call.
The Plush family was critical of the findings of two independent reviews released last week on the city's response to his death.
The reviews from 21st Century Policing Solutions (21CP) and Mission Critical Partners outlined several missteps or mistakes, but did not lay blame on any city employees.
"By and large, our review did not identify grounds for concluding that responding Cincinnati Police Department officers were unreasonable in their performance," the 21CP report said. "Likewise, CPD's internal investigation of the incident was generally sound, fair, comprehensive, and timely."
"Mission Critical Partners cannot say with any certainty whether the additional information or a second incident being entered would have changed the outcome," stated the firm's written report. "It is easy to suggest alternative courses of action after a tragic event when in a controlled environment and as more information is brought to light."
Kyle's mom, Jill Plush, told council members last week the reports were not enough and expressed dissatisfaction with the findings.
City council's Law and Public Safety Committee is scheduled to meet Dec. 10 to discuss an improvement plan for the city's emergency communications center.
