FOP Pres Ken Kober - Violence Downtown Monday night

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Take action in your own community.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Go to iHeartRadio dot com, slash Earth, the Schumer shut Down,
the events of the day, Portland, Chicago, violent crime, every Day,
Israel as Peace, fifty five KRC.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
The Talk Station. Let me see your whole palace? All else,
all else, what all else? We will be very, very
angry with you, and we will write you a letter
telling you how angry were you are. Hans Blick's approach

(00:36):
paralleling the chief of police, I guess. Brian Thomas here,
happy to welcome back to the fifty five KARSEE Morning Show.
Can Cober, the president of the Fraternal Order Police Chapter
sixty nine, which represents the s in Sant Police Apartment.
Ken Cober, are always a pleasure to have you on
the fifty five kr S Morning Show.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hey, good morning, Brian, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Too bad. There's nothing to talk about, right Ken. What's
your reaction? You had a couple more shootings. Violent obviously
a real problem the city of Cincinnati residents at least
feel violence is a problem. You When I could cite
all day long the number of crimes and violence and
shootings and murders and everything else that's going on in
the city of Cincinnati. We I think we have a
crime problem. It seems that way up until like a

(01:15):
moment in time ago have tab Pervol denying that we
have a problem, thinking that Maga is going to like
ruin the progress we've made in terms of safety. I
saw his campaign literature the other day. He kept talking
about how safe we are, and I don't feel that way.
What is your reaction? What is your perception at least
the SINCINNT Police Department, the officers that you represent, their

(01:36):
perception of safety and how what is their perception of
the mayor? I know you got a no confidence vote
with mayor I have tab purvol, So let's talk.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, I could tell you, you know, the perception and
it's it's actually reality is that.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Crime is running rampant right now. And you know the
members spoke doing a vote of no confidence.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
They don't have any confidence in this mayor leading the city,
which is exact actly why it's done. And you know,
I've been throughout the districts and uh, I know it
has gotten full support of every officer that I've talked to.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Well, he see and I know Corey Bowman's you know
comment about after have parvole he's been reactive. You know,
something bad happens. He doesn't get ahead of problems with
regard to policing, staffing, where they're located. I don't know
how much control Mayor Aftab Purvol has about where the
police are allocated in terms of resources. You obviously need
a couple of hundred additional officers. That's been agoing, ongoing problem.

(02:30):
But does he have any control over how these police
officer resources are allocated or is that square in the
lap of police chief Diji?

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Well, I mean, is somebody within city administration does? I mean?

Speaker 2 (02:43):
I know the mayor is taken credit for all the
millions of dollars that has been allocated for the police.
You know, as far as how those resources are deployed,
I'm sure it's a conversation that the chief has with
whether it's a city manager or the mayor. I do
believe all tamilia does fall on the police chief. But
you know, of course, we have an election year, so

(03:05):
politics are running rampant, and there's a lot of things
that I believe politicians are interjecting themselves in that isn't
necessarily good for the police department.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, specifically, what I would I mean, if I can say,
if if if Ken Cobra FOP president is the mayor,
what would you do and what what is your desire?
What are the desires of the men and women in
uniform right now that aren't being addressed.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, let the police chief the run the police department,
you know, and let her make the decisions that she
feels she needs to make without having city leaders tell
her this is what you're gonna do. I'm a perfect
example of that. And we saw that cops are being
ordered to work, uh, you know, work walking patrols on
their off time, on an off day, they cancel their

(03:48):
off days and they order them to work and you
know walk on Main Street and Vine Street from Central
Parkway to Liberty Street. That wasn't something that the police
chief just came up with. This is something that city
hall does. And it's things like that that you know,
we're we're using you know, resources there when maybe they
could be used somewhere differently.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Well, there's a lot of neighborhoods in the City of
Cincinnati we've seen to be focusing on the you know,
like Government Square problems. I know, after that was on
a tear about the issues going on Government Square, thinking
maybe sort of might be able to hammer it out.
What do you just real quick on that issue, because
I was kind of scratching my head over the mayor's
comments looking for changes to Government Square. Wow, why is

(04:29):
that the magnet? And if you crack down on Government Square,
which is just loading and unloading zone from my understanding
for buses, wouldn't those reckless, you know, law breaking youths
or whoever's hanging out there just move someplace else.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Well, you know this this has been the topic of
discussion for the last two years now, is you see
what's going on with juveniles. You have juveniles that have
no business being downtown, but because they're given these bus
passes after school, they all congregate downtown. So you have
kids that don't belong and don't live downtown that are
coming down there. And of course and they're clashing with

(05:04):
kids from other neighborhoods that are driving as violence.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
And that's that is.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
The really the crux of what the problems that we
see after school at Government Square. These aren't kids that
are running around downtown that live down there. These are
kids from Evanston, from Westwood, you know, neighborhoods all over
the city that all come to the central location that
quite honestly a lot of them don't have any business
being down there to begin with.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
So, Yeah, in spite of my reaction this morning to
what may I have to have Parwell said, so there
is really something to that is it? Is it just
the transportation system generally that by concentrating them there and
by requiring all these these school aged kids to you know,
ride the metro buses and end up in Government Square
because it just that's where the central location is that

(05:54):
needs to be rethought or changed.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Well, yeah, I mean you have, it's been suggested and
it's fallen onto fears as you have the transit center
under Second Street that that could be used for a
bus depot. That's exactly what it was built and designed
to be. Yeah, and if you're if the kids are
down there, it's not an attractive.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Rut to me.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, it's it's there's there's less opportunity for them to
go disrupt businesses because you're literally, you know, in a
in a concrete area where it is sole purpose is
to get on one bus to go to another, you know.
Put it in the heart of downtown, you know, at
Fifth and Walna in fifth and Maine, and you have
an opportunity with all these businesses with people there for kids,

(06:38):
just to be disruptive. And like I said, it's been
talked about and there's been so much pushback about it.
That transit tunnel sits empty ninety nine percent.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
Of the year.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
That's what I believe that they should look at moving
that transit center down there to alleviate some of these problems.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
It sounds like a brilliant idea. You say, there's been
pushback on that pushback, and I mean maybe not necessarily
so much from whom, But what is the argument against
what seems like a very logical solution to the problem,
at least something that it's worth trying out right, Well.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
I know from the metro perspective, and I can certainly
understand where they're coming from, because you have these routes.
They have routes down to literally a tenth of a mile,
how long it takes, how much fuel it takes, all
these things, and their contention is if we move at
a half a mile, then the cost of doing business
is going to go up, which I understand that, but

(07:34):
the cost of leaving that where.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
It is and destroying downtown and businesses.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
I think is probably going to be much greater than
what the cost of fuel is going to be to
move the bus depot half a mile.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Well, if you had to crunch the numbers and the
allocation of police resources and the impact on business alone,
I have to imagine that those two costs combined are
greater than whatever it is would be the cost impact
of maybe dropping them off down Second Street.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
No, absolutely, that's what I said.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
I mean, we're we're at the point now where in
my twenty five year career I hadn't heard of of
one shooting at Fountain Square, much less two in five days,
And it's only a matter of time before these businesses
go Enough's enough, We're not dealing with this anymore. You know,
you have police officers that are standing a Fountain Square
and there are people shooting each other anyway, So they've

(08:26):
got to do something to figure out how to deal
with this. You know, these these traditional methods a whole.
We're just gonna throw fifty policemen down there. It's clearly
not working. So they're gonna have to think outside of
the box and find a way to solve this problem.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
And they better solve it quickly.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
FOP President kenkoberra, I'm gonna pause. We'll bring it back
and maybe get a few more questions about the situation
in downtown Cincinnati. We do have an election coming up.
We could choose a different path in the city, and
that's been my strong encouragement, most notably since my police
department friends don't have any confidence in have to have
parwall question, do they have confidence in police chief? Teresa Thiji,
let me ask that question. Coming back, Ken, preparing you

(09:00):
for the next question. Seven fifteen Right now fifty five
k Site Talks t the talk station seven nineteen fifty
five k ras Dan Talk station. Hope you're having a
decent Tuesday. Brian Thomas with FOP President Ken Cober, Chapter
sixty nine represented this in sant Police Apartment. Ken Cober, Obviously,
no confidence vote means you have no confidence in a mara.

(09:21):
Have to have pervol you said, you know, leave it
the allocation of resources and police patrols and decision making
with regard to since at police department and where they are,
that should be left up to police chief three. Cythigi,
Do the men and women in uniform have confidence in
police Chief? Three? Cythigi. I've heard, and I've heard it
from quite a few of the officers that I know.

(09:41):
The answer to that question is no, that's what I
have heard. And I know it's a delicate question to
ask you, FOP President ken Kober, But where are we
with regard to police chief three Cythigi.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah, No, one's.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Come to me and said, look, I think we should
take some kind of vote and no confidence on the chief.
And this is where a lot of the frustration lies
is in two thousand and five, when the voters passed
Issue five that gave the city the sole authority to
hire and fire a police chief, it completely.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Ruined the position a chief.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Now you have the police chief, and it's not just
Chief Thiji, it's been every chief that's come after Chief
Striker when he retired in twenty ten. They behold the
city manager and the mayor politics if they say, yeah,
it's all politics, and that's I've been very very vocal
about politicians need to stay out a law enforcement and

(10:35):
unfortunately we don't have that. We saw it when James
Craig first got elected or first got appointed, and he
was here for two years, made some fantastic changes the
troops loved him, and they got rid of him because
the troops loved him.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
So now you know, fast forward.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
To Chief Fiji and it's like she's stuck between a
rock and a hard place, And I get it. Now,
you have a boss that you have to answer to
that's going to tell you you're going to do this,
You're going to do that, and if you don't do it,
then the consequences could be your terminated. So would I
like to see or do things differently, Yeah? I would,
But I also understand that you have somebody have to

(11:11):
answer to. And if the mayor, of the city manager
or whoever it is that's above you is telling you
you're going to do this if you want to stay employed,
that's what you have to do.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
You know. I am so glad that I asked you
the question because I had I guess either wasn't aware
or had forgotten the old way versus the new way.
Who is in a better position to determine who the
chief of police is than the police officers themselves? I mean,
you guys are ladies and men, are not going to
select someone that's not going to be in your best interest.

(11:40):
You're going to look for the most competent person, the
one who's going to hire based on merit, who's going
to provide promotions based upon merit as opposed to who's
politically connected, who fills in the right checkbox on some
woke identity form. You know, is there any possibility we
can go back to that Ken.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Well, yeah, and it would take some kind of bout
in this.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
But you know, while I understand you know this, this
was the will of the people in two thousand and five,
I think there should be there could be some compromise
to be made. I think anytime you leave it to
one or two people to determine, you know, whether or not,
you know, the police chief is going to stay in
that position, I think that that creates problems. You know what,
maybe it's a something where you know, they put about

(12:22):
initiative on where you know, we consider maybe the majority
of council decides, you know, whether or not we hire
or fire somebody.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
There's a lot of things that I think need to
be explored. But you know, the position a police chief
needs to come with some protections. You know, if it's
not FOP protection, then they got to be able to
know that they can do and go out and do
what they think is best for the police department, best
for this city of Cincinnati, and do that without fear

(12:52):
of making one person upset who's a politician, and and
them have the ability just to get rid it's handcuffs
the police chief. And that's why you see, you know,
it's not just Cincinnati, but all these major cities that
now have this, They have a new police chief every two, three,
four years. Yeah, we've gone through the same thing here
and it does a disservice not only do the police

(13:14):
department to the men and women that serve this police department,
but also for the citizens.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
They deserve to.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Have a police chief that is able to make decisions
based off of what they think is best for law
enforcement in the city, not based off of what a
politician thinks we should do.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
And who I would argue that who would know better
as police chief than someone who came up through the
ranks within the City of Cincinnati Police department. You hire
somebody from some other city out there in the world,
it's going to take them forever to get up to
speed on how we operate here in the city. You
can't just hit the ground running in that position. I
would believe maybe I'm wrong on that.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
No, you're absolutely right. You know, like I said in
James Craig was one of the few.

Speaker 2 (13:55):
He hit the ground running and did an absolutely fantastic job.
I mean, he he was what this city needed, what
the police department needed at that time, and he did
a fantastic job. And unfortunately, because he stood on his
own two feet and stood up to you know, at
the time, the politicians that were at city Hall, you know,
he was there for two years, they didn't even offer
a contract extension. They said yeah, thanks, but no thanks

(14:18):
to you later. And then of course he went up
to Detroit and did some fantastic work up there. But
you know, as long as this system is in place,
you're never going to have a police chief that is
going to stand there and say, no, I'm going to
do what I think is best as a law enforcement
professional is you know, if that differs from what a
politician says, because at the end of the day, if

(14:39):
they want to stay employed, they're going to do what.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
Politicians tell him to do.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
And that's that is a slippery slope and we're seeing
the effects of that now.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
I cannot thank you enough for coming in the morning
show today, Ken Kober, I appreciate that profound honesty and
eye opening reality of what you're dealing with there. I
think you've hit the nail on the head. My friend
and first time of had a discussion involving that component
of the cincinnat Police Department. So maybe we can change
things going down the road. In the meantime, we're stuck
with what we've got and elections do have consequences. FLP

(15:10):
President Ken Cover, Thanks again, man, this has been a
really enlightening conversation. I appreciate you coming on the show
and talking about it.