Cincinnati needs state support to combat rising crime rates

By Linda Matthews, Contributor

This past Friday, I obtained a first hand look at the challenges of our city from the eyes of a Cincinnati police officer.  It was very eye opening. I encourage every concerned citizen to participate in the Cincinnati Police Department Ride-A-Long program.

Our officers at the Cincinnati Police Department do an outstanding job for the community. They put their lives on the line everyday for us. However, as many Cincinnatians know, our city needs to hire more police officers. The manpower on the shift I rode around on, considering the day and time of week it was, did not feel safe for neither the community nor the officer. Until the Cincinnati Police Department’s sworn population of police officers increases to safe levels, City Hall should accept every state support service offered by Governor DeWine to combat violent crime.

Cincinnatians are also taxpayers to the State of Ohio. We deserve the resources our tax dollars pay for when murder and mayhem take over the streets. The murder of an innocent Black mother of five children in downtown Cincinnati should wake up our local elected officials. Our city leadership must put their egos aside and accept the full package of support services that Governor DeWine is offering Cincinnati.

City Hall turned down support services that would actively address preventing crime. According to the Office of the Governor, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (“O.D.R.C.”) and the Ohio Department of Youth Services (“O.D.Y.S.”) provide support to Cincinnati by helping to find probationers/parolees who are in violation of their post-release control agreements.  Until Cincinnati reaches a complement of 1,200 officers, (a complement where it might actually be safe for a police officer to serve a warrant), City Hall should accept the full complement of support services for locating some of the worst offenders in our communities.

Further, City Hall turned down a full complement of services from the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center (“O.N.I.C.”) and the Ohio Investigative Unit (“O.I.U.,”) respectively.  The O.N.I.C., according to its website, “provides expert digital forensic examinations, criminal intelligence analysis, and case support for Ohio law enforcement to identify and disrupt the illicit drug market.” According to their social media, O.N.I.C.  recently supported the Hamilton County Cold Case Panel for the Hamilton County Heroin Task Force in a case from two years ago dealing with a fentanyl death. Our city needs the maximum support being offered by the Governor so we can lock dealers of fentanyl away for a long time and protect our kids.

The Ohio Investigative Unit, according to its website, conducts investigations that may be related to locations operating without a permit, selling illegal items, drugs, gambling, weapons, property crimes, human trafficking, and other criminal activity. These activities would usually be investigated by our local City Police department. However, with Cincinnati Police being down approximately 150-200 police officers, local Cincinnati police officers are stretched extremely thin and need assistance with enforcing laws that could prevent activities (such as street takeovers) from occurring.

Accepting the full complement of support services from Governor DeWine is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of common sense.  City Hall needs to put partisanship aside and accept the full complement of services Governor DeWine is offering to Cincinnati. We must keep our families safe.

Linda D. Matthews serves as Vice President of North Avondale Neighborhood Association and Trustee to Central State University.