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October 28, 2025 • 17 mins
Willie talks with Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones about crime in the city of Cincinnati.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Also here in the tri State, and of course the
Bengals teed up on Sunday with the Chicago Bears.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
God knows what's going to happen with that.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Plus it was discovered yesterday by some enterprising reporters with
The Inquirer that Frost Brown is going to be paid
between forty and one hundred thousand dollars a bunch of
money to investigate the chief of police for wrongdoing, to
give the mayor a reason for what he did. The
mayor indirectly but through share along the city manager fire

(00:29):
Chief of Police Thiji, and now the mayor and the
city manager wants to our big time law firm to
discover why the mayor did what he did. Joining me
now with this and so many of the other issues
since the Sheriff of Butler County, Richard K. Jones and
Sheriff welcome again to the Bill Cunningham showing first of
all as an outside observer looking at the mess on

(00:50):
city Council as an outside observer of what's happening. Can
you imagine the police chief who's been a cop for
like thirty five years, her family have been ops for
like one hundred years, standing next to the mayor for
news conference after news conference after news conference in which
everyone's on the same page, share long the city manager
who's completely incompetent, and then the mayor who's way over

(01:13):
his skis, and the chief is standing there, and the
three of them agree that they're doing what's right. They're
holding down crime. There's all kind of transparency, and at
no point did the mayor indicate the chief of police
was somehow on her own. All of a sudden, the
election gets close, the mayor needs a scapegoat, and the
escapegoat is a woman named Teresa Thiji. So, as a

(01:34):
law enforcement official with some forty years, you've been in
law enforcement about as long as I've been in radio,
how do you perceive the behavior of the elected officials
in Cincinnati when they want to dump everything onto the
shoulders of Fiji? When she did what the mayor wanted
her to do.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Anyway, Look, she's a great person, great family, great background,
good people, and the people that she worked four or
the worst, the worst of the worst. Your mayor is
a goof and and he's running in a race, and
what they do is they sacrifice people. He has no

(02:13):
idea what's going on.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
She's not.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
She wasn't allowed to fix anything. And then you got
the sheriff that's sitting on the empty cells because the
courts won't put him in jail, and it's the prosecutor.
You got a perfect storm, and they're all blaming it
on the police chief. I know her, I know her well.

(02:36):
Like I said, she was never allowed to do her
job because of these goofs, these incompetence. But that's who
they elect down there. How would you like to be
a business downtown? Restaurant, Rubies, all these restaurants and look
and those people donate to these people's campaign thousands of dollars,

(02:56):
and who the hell would want to go to Cincinnati.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
I'm not one of them, And I'm.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Just telling you it's a terrible situation. The people that
have businesses downtown, Who the hell would want to go
to Fountain Square where they shoot people. It's terrible. Those
businesses have to be feeling it, and they're going to
continue to feel it because what they'll do is they'll
do a national search. They'll find some they'll find some

(03:23):
goof somewhere that's been fired like forty two times, and
they'll bring them to Cincinnati, like.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
These big cities, and it'll be.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
The same thing, turnover after turnover after turnover. They don't Hey,
the courts won't put them. They have a no cash bond.
Everybody goes free. The jails sitting on empty beds, and
you've got a sanctuary city. You got everything that can
go wrong. They have debt out the ass, they owe money.

Speaker 4 (03:54):
They don't. Butler County we have no debt none. We're
building a brand new.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Disc at center and more for the corner combined together
thirty five million dollars.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
Look, and they paid cash for it. There's no debt.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
They're sitting all probably one hundred and seventy one hundred
and seventy million to the good.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
All good.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
We have one commissioner that's kind of a goof, that's Carpenter.
But other than that, here in Butler County, we're doing good.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Sheriff.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Can you imagine just on the city pension Cincinnati one
hundred years ago had his own pension system before PRS
was ever created, and the shortfall on the city pension
system is well over a billion dollars. Now to a
little city like Cincinnati, a billion dollars, maybe a trillion dollars.
On top of that, they spent years telling the police chief,

(04:47):
do not enforce the law. In other words, we have
situations of speeding in dui and reckless operation. We have
situation open air drug use, homelessness, drug encampments, et cetera.
And the chief if the police is told by Scotti
Johnson on city council and by Cheryl Long, the city manager,
who's completely over her head, do not enforce the law

(05:08):
because too many people arrested look like us. So not
going to arrest people because of the color of their skin.
That's called racism. So here you got a proud member
of the Neville family. The Nevills have been police officers
for like seventy five years. She comes in and wants
to enforce the law. She said, well, you can't walk
around Washington Park smoking pot, and you can't be intervening

(05:29):
drug using. You've got to get the homelesses off the streets.
And I don't want to reclassify a shooting in which
bullets go through a car as property damage as a misdemeanor.
I want to classify that as a felony. Well, the
mayor and the city manager won't let her, and so
they reclassify offenses, they ignore criminal violations. And now not

(05:50):
about what about a week ago when the city manager
supposedly fired I think it's called administrative lee, but it's
going to be fired.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Teresa Thiji, the.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
Mayor, said it's time we start arresting people for misdemeanors.
I would think it is a basic tenement of law enforcement. Now,
when you see somebody in your presence committing a drug offense,
do you tell your man and women of Butler County
if you see somebody walking around the streets you having
a needle in their arm or living in a homeless

(06:21):
encampment in downtown Hamilton? Do you see somebody smoking pot
walking around? What do you tell your many women to
do in uniform?

Speaker 4 (06:29):
Hey, we do what we're supposed to. We're supposed to
keep everybody safe.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
You're not allowed to do that. It's against the law. Hey,
you go to jail and you only have to do that. Listen,
you only have to do that a little bit, Bill,
they'll go somewhere else. We try to tell them, go
to Cincinnati. They got everything there, They got the best
welfare system in the world. They'll give you free money,
they won't put you in jail. You can lay on

(06:54):
the streets do whatever you want. You can do those
race car things where you close the highway down, ro
test and block the bridges off. But don't go to
Kentucky because they'll whip your ass put you in jail. Yes, hey,
you made us a mistake crossing that bridge. But listen,
they had a good police chief. They have the best
police department in the United States, one of the best.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
I know them. They're not allowed to do their job.
Can't blame them. They're so screwed up.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
And like I said, empty beds in jail because the
judges won't put them in jail. Everybody gets bonded out
before they get the paperwork done. It's sanctuary city. But again,
the businesses downtown are suffering.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
People.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Hey, the word is don't go there. You get turned
around and get on the wrong street. Hey, you're going
to get shot, You're going to get beat down, and
if you try to defend yourself, you will be indicted
and charged with a crime for being a victim. Terrible
national news and embarrassment. The mayor should resign immediately. One

(07:59):
of the worst mayors I've ever seen. He should quit
like yesterday.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
Let me give a little story about Judge Josh Berkowitz
had them on twice since Labor Day. Every day as
the administrative judge presiding Judge Heimlic County Municipal Court, he
gets a availability of beds available in the jail because
the judges, you might recall when my wife was on
the bench about ten fifteen years ago, there was a
movement of foot by Sean Donovan by side lease.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
We had to build another jail.

Speaker 4 (08:27):
Now.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
The cost was going to be one hundred million dollars
and there'd be a five year sales tax increase of
a half a percent that would sunset after five years
to raise one hundred million in order to build a
brand new jail in addition the one we have now.
Because they were double betting and judges were told in
the morning penny would get something at eight a m.
In the morning, we can't accept any prisoners today, and

(08:49):
so you have to act tough on the bench. You
had to say, well, don't do that again. But you
couldn't send these gang bangers and criminals to jail because
the jail said we won't accept them. That's how things
function to fifteen years ago. And now let's fast forward
to twenty twenty five. Josh Berkowitz, running for reelection, says
he gets that update every day. Between two and four

(09:10):
hundred beds are available every day in amer County jail.
And this isn't Charmaine mcguffey's fault because she doesn't sendence
people to jail. The judges in Hamleton County, half of
them are liberal Democrats who believe in something called restorative justice.
I see campaign literature of Democrats restorative justice, and they
don't think people should go to jail. We have a horrible,

(09:31):
lousy juvenile court judge named Bloom, Carrie Bloom, who who
thinks especially black boys should not be sent to jail
because of reparations and restorative justice.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
So instead of.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Him, we have more crime, more shots fired, more victims,
more robberies, more drug sales, more breaking into cars, more
stolen cars than we've ever had, and we have fewer
people in the jail proportionally we've ever had. And so
half the judges are Republican. Half the judges are If
you get in front of a Democrat judge, and as

(10:03):
an experienced criminal defense attorney, you know how to work
the case to get in front of one of these judges.
When I practice law actively, i'd look in room may
who's coming up the weeks ahead, and I try to
get me an easy sentencing judge. I didn't want to
go in front of Judge Crush. I didn't want to
go in front of Judge Matthews or Judge I didn't
want to go in front of any of the tough judges.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
I want to go in front of the easy ones.
You work the.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
System to make sure your client is sentenced by an
easy judge.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
And so when you have two to three one hundred
empty beds, that is chaos, Sheriff, that is absolute chaos.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
Hey, listen, the city is known for that right now.
It's really sad. And again that's who these people elect,
and it's going to continue to be that way. The
business is downtown until they get the nerve to start
firing these people not supporting them and get people in there.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
They give them happy talk, Hey, we're going to fix it.
We're going to get in the new police chief. Man
want to fix anything.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
They'll get some person that's been fired from some other
department somewhere else. Probably won't hire anybody from within at all.
They'll go outside and they'll find some person that will
be like what they want them to do, and they.

Speaker 4 (11:17):
Will do it.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
Listen, you're absolutely correct as far as trying to judge
shop people that are listening to your station right now.
When you were in college, you didn't pick the hard
the hardest professor. You went down, Hey, this one's hard,
that one's no, I'm going to go to this one. Hey,
you don't have to do but one term paper. They
don't come very often.

Speaker 4 (11:36):
They're liberal.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
That's who you picked. When you were in college. You
didn't pick the hardest one. Same with the judges they picked.
They judge shop. It's not rocket science, but the system
is so broke. The mayor, the city council, the city
manager all broke down. Listen, I tell people here in
Butler County, we're so fortunate. We're a thirty minute drive

(11:58):
maybe twenty five from downtown since right totally different here.
We got jails, we got judges, prosecutors, good police departments,
and we run it here. That's why people want to
come here. Thirty minute drives from here, downtown Hamilton, Butler County,
the county seat to total chaos. Thirty minute drive. That's

(12:20):
how if we were like Cincinnati, we would have the
same issues. But we are not sure.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
If you've been accused of the social activist online that
you are monetizing and making money off illegals, can you
tell the American people how much money the Feds are
paying you in Butler County to house inmates in the
Butler County jail. I'd say, on a yearly basis, how
much money are you is to county getting.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
Hey, we're going to bring in twenty two million next year.
In the last twenty twenty years we bought in over
two hundred and the next this year, next year, and
into twenty seven, we're going to bring in a quarter
of a billion with a b a quarter of a
billion dollars. And that's what we're bringing into the county here. Now,

(13:08):
do we get paid to bring prisoners here? Sure we do.
We don't do it for free. We work with ICE.
We lock people up. The ICE goes with us. We
don't have the authority to make the arrest on ICE charges,
but ICE goes with us or thereby phone where we
make contact, they put the charges on them.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
We go out with them to assist them. And we
help them.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
We don't let them throw rocks at the police here.
We don't let them spit on the police here. You
can spit on the police, but you go to the
hospital first, then you'll.

Speaker 4 (13:40):
Come to jail.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
You throw a rock at us or a brick, you're
liable to get shot. So and if you jump in
front of a car of one of our citizens here,
they'll probably run over you. That's what happens. That's the difference.
It's the difference there. Thirty minute drive and do we
keep our communities. Yes, we've probably arrested a hunt probably

(14:03):
ice with us.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
ICE is probably.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
Arrested one hundred and fifty illegals Aaron, Butler County.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
Oh, you know, sounds to me like you're monetizing the
misery of others. According to the social activists, they don't
like the idea that you're housing these criminals. Claremont County
is starting to do the same thing in Boone County
and you're talking about a quarter of a billion dollars
in Butler County. That's a crap load of money, and
it's housing individuals that are they're not with you long
You a might have a hearing, might not and they're

(14:31):
they're in and they're.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
Out three weeks.

Speaker 3 (14:34):
That's how long they stay because there is no federal
jail space other than what county jails.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
And we're doing our part. Seventy eight percent of America.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Once these people shipped out, that's who they voted for.
Democrat and Republican. And the activists that come here don't
want you to make any arrest. But listen, they're here.
They're here illegally. I've seen something today. I haven't verified
it that fifty million illegals that are in the United States,
fifty million over so many years get welfare. Fifty men

(15:08):
and so trying. The Democrats are trying to get it
to where they can get this bill open. The government
back up only if that continues to give health care
to the illegals.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
Thirty seconds remaining. How long would it take Sheriff First
Richard K. Jones to clean up the city of Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
Hey, I said six months earlier. I could do it
in three months. They'd have to give me a contract.
I'd have to be able to keep my job as
the sheriff and Butler County I could fix that. The
police would love me. All law enforcement would love me.
I would get with the judges, I'd get with the prosecutor,
do the best I can. We would make a rest.
We would flood the courts, and we'd run people off

(15:51):
the streets, and all the punks and thugs, we'd run
them off, juveniles.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Everything would be over.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
I'm going to talk to maybe the city manager. I'm
gonna see if I get you appointed the interim police chief.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
Would you like that?

Speaker 4 (16:07):
Hey? For three months and a contract and.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
A cutting fires and we'd have to get with the
prosecutor here to make sure I could keep my job
here as the share well, do both very easily.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Richard K. Jones, you're the best there is. Thanks for
coming on the Bill Cunningham Shaw. I'm gona start promoting
you to become the chief of Police of the City
of Cincinnati.

Speaker 4 (16:28):
Hey, the police would allow it.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Got sheriff, thank you, the chief of Police, Richard K. Jones,
thank you very much. See here, Matt, all right, let's
continue with more now that would be something to cover
on news radio seven hundred.

Speaker 5 (16:45):
Rising downtown violence and political pressure have catalyzed the chaos
regarding the Cincinnati police chief. While the interim chief steadies
the ship will community leaders turn to a tried and
true veteran to become police chief permanently, or will a
fresh face rise from within the ranks to restore calm

(17:06):
and credibility. As speculation is swirling, keep it here for
the latest on seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
You know what your customers are doing right this second,
the exact same thing you are listening to.
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