Interim Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac says 25 extra officers are now on the streets. The officers, who started the new shifts Sunday, were reassigned from other areas to boost patrol numbers.
Isaac says these changes will be evaluated in 30 days.
"We're not going to hesitate," says Isaac. "What we see that needs to be changed, whatever is identified, we're going to rapidly move through that. We do want to be thoughtful. We want to consider our approaches and we want to make sure we have the interests of the citizens of Cincinnati and our officers as well in any decisions that we make moving forward."
Isaac says he and his leadership team are restructuring the department's communication structure and reviewing the just-released department climate assessment.
"There were three themes that we determined that we needed to immediately address. Those being: the concern of the lack of leadership; a lack of communication; and a tremendous concern about the technology in the department."
Isaac also says he intends to get community input on a strategic plan that's being crafted.
FOP
Isaac is expected to attend an FOP morale meeting Monday evening. If asked to speak, Isaac says he'll tell officers they have a leadership team that's willing to work with them.
FOP president Kathy Harrell says morale is already improving. She says the collaborative agreement ensures strong community partnerships and says that won't go away with the firing of Chief Jeffrey Blackwell. Some have expressed concerns about Blackwell's firing because they liked how well he worked with communities.
