Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chanel n I first one one of the forecass. We have
a Sunday day to day with a high of eighty one.
It's going to be clear ofvery night, dropping to fifty
six sonnay in eighty four tomorrow, another clear night tomorrow
night fifty seven and another sunny day on Friday with
a high of eighty six fifty two degrees. Now, let's
get a traffic update from the UCL Traffic Center.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Addiction is a treatable medical disorder that affects both brain
and behavior. You see health addiction services can help called
five one, three, five, eight, five nine seven two to two.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Crews continue to work.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
With an accident and hands the southbound seventy five ramped
Cooper blocked off in the Lochland Split. Traffic slows just
a bit through Lachland elsewhere you know in fine northbound
seventy five and northbound fourth seventy one still look good
on the bridges.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Chuck Ingram on fifty five KRC the talk station.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
It's six point thirty fifty five krs the talk station.
Very happy Wednesday to and welcome back to the fifty
five PARRASEE Morning Show. We got crime going on in
the City of Cincinnati. Somebody knows all about that and
the Sinni Police Department. The president of the Fraternal Order
Police Chapter sixty nine representing the CINCINNTI Police Department, Ken Cober,
Good to have you back on the fifty five Karse
Morning Showy.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Good morning, Brian, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I guess you were probably very interested in the Dwine
pur of All meeting yesterday regarding violent crime. What's your
takeaway on it? I keep going back to Dwine's point,
we need to get these people off the street, get
them off the street. He said, we need to lock them,
we need to get rid of them. I mean, it's
all well and good, you can say that, but practically
speaking that she's not going to happen. I mean, recidi
(01:38):
of his criminals are recidive, his criminals. You can only
put them behind bars for so long unless they actually
murder someone, and maybe they might get a life sentence,
but the vast majority of cases, they're going to come
back out on the street, and apparently they're going to
recommit crimes, and we got this vicious cycle going on.
I mean, we can't really get rid of them. So anyhow,
I can't leave that point, Ken Cober, what was your
(01:59):
reaction to what was announced yesterday and how do you
think it's going to help or do you think it
was missing some elements?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
What more do we need? Let's talk.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
No, I think it's going to be helpful.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
What's truly going to be helpful is if the federal
prosecutor starts prosecuting these people federally guidelines, sentencing guidelines are
a lot more strict criminals on the streets fear the
federal court system because they know they're going to get
locked up for a long time, and they're likely going
(02:32):
to be sentenced and locked away far, far far from
their home, which will be something that'll be very very beneficial.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Agree on all that question.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Are there federal crimes that mirror the state crimes across
the board? Or are we left with the Hamilton County
judges and judicial system to deal with the state crimes exclusively.
I guess the problem is bringing the Feds in. There
has to be a parallel federal charge.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yeah, which just about.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
Every gun charge is going to be a federal crime,
just about every drug trafficking charge is similar. In what
they're looking at is focusing on those recidivists, those that
are already convicted felons that have been convicted of violent felonies,
that have recommitted crimes, and take them federally on these
(03:21):
gun charges that you know a lot of them carry.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Minimum sentences of ten plus years. Get them in the
federal system and get them out of Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Sounds like a great idea. Has that sort of topic
been broached? Do we know if the local federal prosecutors
are willing to step up and take on that extra
role and take on the additional work Ken.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
Yeah, And it's it's always been, you know, a topic
of discussion. You know, we used to have a thing
in this since the police Depfarmers called Project Disarmed, where
they would take cases federally for the the most violent
of a recidivist. But having a new Southern Ohio District
prosecutor who is ripborn and ready to go, I think
(04:03):
it's going to make an immediate impact when we have,
you know, some of these recidivists to take them federal,
get them out of the county system where you know,
we know that judges may or may not actually lock
people up and keep them locked up, So if they
put them in the federal system, it's a lot better
likelihood that they're going to stay locked up and be
(04:23):
gone for a long time.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I concur with your conclusion on that. I think you're
very accurate on that. So I think that's an outstanding
a suggestion, truly. I mean, I have a problem with
federalizing crime across the board because that gives far more
power to the federal government. That's just me being a
believer in state power and the limitations of the federal government.
But it is a solution to soft on crime judges
(04:47):
here locally, because yeah, the federal prosecutors they do have
the sentence in guidelines and if you've got a gun charge,
that guy's going to jail.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Pause.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
We'll bring Kenkber back and find out if this Southern
Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strikeforce Team which dwind off, is going
to be able to help get some of these bad
guys we're looking for off the streets. And isn't that
in and of itself and acknowledgment that we need more
police officers downtown to do that job. Six point thirty
five more with ken Kober coming up, don't go away.
And I want to mention doctor Fred pack my dentist.
(05:16):
I love doctor Fred Peck. Great guy and a genius,
and I can say that unqualified. No, I don't know
what his test scores are, but if you see the
amazing work that he can do by the way of
cosmetic dentistry, you'll give him a nod. Yep, that's genius
right there. Transformative, life changing dental work from the cosmetic
dentist that is doctor Fred Peck. One of only three
(05:38):
fellows at the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry that even
are in the state of the entire state, I mean
dentists are there in the state. He's one of three
that have achieved the fellowship status. That's because he is
mind blowing when it comes to cosmetic dentistry. So to
see the before and after pictures he's done, be blown
away as well, and have him take care of that
smile that you're not happy with. But in terms of
general dentistry, the best go out there. The state of
(06:00):
the Art clinic got the best possible people working forum,
customer service fantastic. And if you don't like going to
the dentist, I'd say you're gonna like going doctor Fred Peck.
Online PEC pec kpeck smiles dot com. Tom Brian said, hoigh,
when you call for that appointment five one three six
two one seventy six sixty six five one three six
two one seventy six sixty.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Six fifty five KRC.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Six thirty eight fifty five KRCD Talk Station Brian Thomas
Slong with FOP President Ken Kober. We're talking about crime
in the city. Governor Mike Dewin announcing a partnership yesterday
with I have to have pro Ball, and one of
the elements of that is Dwine's offering the Southern High
Fugitive Apprehension Strikeforce Team, which we'll be focusing on people
who are currently wanted for violent crime and then those
(06:46):
who've served time that are on prol but have violated
the terms of the Pearl. These are bad guys out
on the street we need to find and pick up. Ken,
Isn't that sort of I read into that that we
need more police officers because the police departm from the
City of Cincinnati. One of your duties is to find
these bad guys if they're roman around the city of Cincinnati.
If you have more police officers, they be able to
(07:07):
take on that responsibility and find these folks. Is that
really the key to the problem. There more police officers?
And if so, is there enough money being allocated toward
police in this most recent five point four million spending
measures they're supposed to approve today, because I saw that
a lot of the money was just going to go
for current police officer overtime. Now there is an allocation
(07:29):
of money for I think advertising to get police lateral
hires and hire them away. But advertising is one thing.
Actually getting police on the street in uniform, that's a
bigger challenge.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Ken, Sure, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
I mean, the bottom line is we've got to hire
more police officers.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
I was just talking to the chief yesterday about this.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
In an August alone, just August one month, officers worked
over twenty three thousand hours of overtime. Oh my god,
not including yeah, the one month, and that's been pretty
consistent over the year. Now, part of that is, you know,
private overtime, whether they're working a construction detail or working
(08:10):
for a bar, or working for the reds FC whatever.
But twenty three thousand hours, and that's not including officers
going to court, it's not including a late radio run,
an investigation. So it's probably closer to about thirty thousand hours.
And that's that's every month that these officers are doing this, and.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
They're doing it because they're committed to keeping the city safe.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
But I'll tell you, burnout is real, and you know,
they can throw more overtime at it, which I appreciate
the fact that the council wants to do that. But
there's gonna be a breaking point, right and these officers
are getting there. It's been a long year, it's been
a violent summer, and officers are getting tired of consistently
putting in sixty seventy hours a week.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I can only imagine. And well, I mean, of course
you got these early retirements. People aren't even participating in
the drop program. They're just like I'm done, I'm gone.
And increases the problem. And that's still a concept going
on right now, ken, isn't it.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Well absolutely, you know that it is a problem. And
what we're seeing as officers that just get burnt out.
They get burnt out as soon as they get their
twenty five years, they just leave because I mean, how
many years, consistently, year after year can you go out
and work sixty or seventy hours a week, you know, yearly,
uh and year after year after year, you just get
(09:32):
burnt out. It's like anything else, you know, you have
you do the same thing over and over and over
for such an extended period of time, and they get
burn out, like I'm done with this.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I just want to retire.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
And you know, I think about the ripple effect on that.
Not to go down to some cul de sac here
that's unnecessary, but obviously that has a profound impact on
their family life. I mean, I imagine a lot of
divorces coming from that, a lot of children not seeing
their mom or dad because of the overtime hours. So
that that's a tough thing to have to deal with
when you're a police officer.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Yeah, absolutely, you've got to be able to try to
manage your raising, the family. So if you're married, all
of those things on top of the demands of or
one hundred and fifty officers short. We have been consistently
for years now, and there is certainly a cause and
effect all these things. And like I said, and that's
what we're seeing is it's driving officers just to retire early,
which of course then has even a more negative effect
(10:25):
on manpower.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Have there been any efforts yet to mean, to really
go after these lateral hires. I mean, I keep hearing
about it, and I've heard it. I've heard told that
it should be fairly easy to lure other police officers
who are uniformed and licensing wherever they happen to be patrolling,
to get them to come to the City of Cincinnati,
better salary, perhaps better pension. But is that happening, mean
(10:48):
that I haven't heard anything in terms of numbers of
acquiring lateral hires. There's literally nothing reported on that.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Ken. Is there anything like that going on right now?
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Well? Yeah, I mean there was certainly a push for it.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
There are some nuances to this that are gonna have
to be worked out, but I'm telling you and I
had officers that were calling me from other agencies that
were considering doing this, and then they saw the way
that this you know, attack at Fourth and Elm was handled,
you know, having council members come out and say, oh.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
That those people beg for that beat down.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
That that absolutely negatively affected efforts by the police department
to recruit laterals because.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
They don't to deal with it.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
You know, when I started here twenty five years ago,
you know, I didn't come here because I thought the
mayor the city.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Manager was gonna pat me on the back.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
I came here for opportunity, uh, you know, to work
in an urban environment where there's a lot of opportunity
to have different jobs. And it's been awesome. But you know,
the cops of this generation see the negative things that
council members have said, inflammatory things that they've said, and went,
I don't.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Need to come here, I'll just stay where I'm at yep.
And that's that has had a bad impact on.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
That really has, and there's no doubt about it. And
you know, the mayor and council only have themselves to
blame for that. For more outlauds supporting the police department.
And then we find out yesterday when the charging documents
are finally released, that the element of the crime that
was the lynchpin to getting a fourth degree misdemeanor filed
against the white guy who hit the slab didn't even
(12:20):
wasn't even there. They're missing a whole element of the crime,
which is one of the reasons why I guess the
police officers didn't want to issue a citation and why
the prosecutor haven't County prosecutor didn't want to issue a citation,
and yet a citation was issued anyway, So this whole
trip was completely unnecessary. I was really appalled at the
revelations on that. So it's really not making the city
(12:43):
of Cincinnat look that great when it comes to again
law enforcement. So, and can I just throw out something
Fred called earlier today. He's a good caller and he
lives over in Westwood. Apparently mckenry is a real problem.
We got gangs of people hanging out on corners what
he described as controlling the streets, engaging a criminal activity.
Joe Streker chimed in with me after Fred spoke his
(13:03):
piece and he was talking to me off air. He said,
oh my god, he goes I used to have to
drive back and forth all the time when I was
dealing with my ex wife, and he said it is
a dangerous street to even drive on. He said, you
got to roll your windows up and lock the doors.
Are you familiar with mckenry and Westwood as being a problem,
Ken just I hate to throw this at you sort
of out of nowhere, but it did come up this morning.
(13:24):
Since since Joe Strecker really really backed what Fred was saying.
I thought that was rather interesting, and isn't that an
area where we could use more police officers?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Well, it is that.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
It's absolutely ironic that you bring up specifically mckenry Avenue.
I was at internal yesterday for an officer who had
a complaint filed against some when it was a nonsense complaint,
and the complaint was all over an officer who stopped
the vehicle.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
That was the vehicle was stopped in the.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Middle of the street and was having a conversation with
known drug dealers, and the officers ended up deciding to
you'll follow the vehicle, identify a traffic violation and stop
them to see what's going on. So there is certainly
work being done there. There's more work that needs to
be done there, but you know, we're certainly aware that
(14:13):
that that area has a lot of problems and it's
something that is being addressed on a daily basis.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Fair enough, Ken Again, I mean to put on a spot,
but I'm glad I did in that regard, But I
think maybe you'd be the first person to agree with me.
That's one street in one neighborhood, and it's not the
only one that has struggles like.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
That without a doubt, without a doubt, and those are
things that officers are having to deal with on a
daily basis. And you know, it's certainly something that when
we get one hundred and fifty one hundred and sixty
more cops is going to be certainly easier to address
those issues.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Amen, and that result and that that relief can't come
soon enough. So we'll all pray for the city and
that we can get these officers on board. Was was
there anything real quick for we part company can cover
in the propos of the five point four million dollar
package of stuff that they're supposed to approve that it
looks like they will approve. Is there anything in there
that you think was stupid or a foolish allocation? Know
(15:07):
that money should not go to that program. It should
go to maybe hiring more police or maybe more overtime
or whatever, or not even be included an allocation of money.
Anything in there that's that's pointless from your perspective.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Ken, No, when you.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Look at sometimes how the city will squander away money,
I think everything that was done in that is at
least done in good faith and trying to make an
impact on safety. So that's something that we're certainly thankful for.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
I said.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
The only thing that really kind of jumped out of
me was, you know, the additional overtime, which is which
is fantastic if we can get officers to volunteer for it.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
It's something that this shouldn't be forced. They shouldn't be
ordering these cops to do it.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
As you know, I talked earlier about how much how
much overtime has been worked. So yeah, we do have
like the Reds you know, are gonna be wrapping up
their season soon, so it will hopefully have officers that
you know that typically worked at might be have an
opportunity to work other overtime.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
But it's something where.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
This is all going to have to be done at
this point on a voluntary basis because officers are just
getting barn out and they're tired.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
And that's the only going to exacerbate the problem even further.
Ken Kobert, thank you for your time today. I appreciate
you spending time with my listeners and me and going
through these issues. You got a lot of challenges on
your plate and we all have your back here on
the fifty five krs Morning Show and our listening audience.
God bless you, sir, and the police department as well.
We'll have you back on real soon.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Sure, thanks for having me, Brian.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Pleasure Ken as always, it's six forty nine right now,
fifty five K see the talk station, Oh the Man,
the Mental Legend, Jack Athan and the Big Picture with
Jack add and coming up after the top of the air,
and you's got to stick around for that. He's going
to talk about how to save our cities, continuing a
theme here on the morning show. But first, Cross Country Mortgage.
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Speaker 3 (17:59):
It's see c M dot com fifty five K the
talk station, the desor node
Chanel n I first one one of the forecass. We have
a Sunday day to day with a high of eighty one.
It's going to be clear ofvery night, dropping to fifty
six sonnay in eighty four tomorrow, another clear night tomorrow
night fifty seven and another sunny day on Friday with
a high of eighty six fifty two degrees. Now, let's
get a traffic update from the UCL Traffic Center.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Addiction is a treatable medical disorder that affects both brain
and behavior. You see health addiction services can help called
five one, three, five, eight, five nine seven two to two.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Crews continue to work.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
With an accident and hands the southbound seventy five ramped
Cooper blocked off in the Lochland Split. Traffic slows just
a bit through Lachland elsewhere you know in fine northbound
seventy five and northbound fourth seventy one still look good
on the bridges.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Chuck Ingram on fifty five KRC the talk station.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
It's six point thirty fifty five krs the talk station.
Very happy Wednesday to and welcome back to the fifty
five PARRASEE Morning Show. We got crime going on in
the City of Cincinnati. Somebody knows all about that and
the Sinni Police Department. The president of the Fraternal Order
Police Chapter sixty nine representing the CINCINNTI Police Department, Ken Cober,
Good to have you back on the fifty five Karse
Morning Showy.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Good morning, Brian, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I guess you were probably very interested in the Dwine
pur of All meeting yesterday regarding violent crime. What's your
takeaway on it? I keep going back to Dwine's point,
we need to get these people off the street, get
them off the street. He said, we need to lock them,
we need to get rid of them. I mean, it's
all well and good, you can say that, but practically
speaking that she's not going to happen. I mean, recidi
(01:38):
of his criminals are recidive, his criminals. You can only
put them behind bars for so long unless they actually
murder someone, and maybe they might get a life sentence,
but the vast majority of cases, they're going to come
back out on the street, and apparently they're going to
recommit crimes, and we got this vicious cycle going on.
I mean, we can't really get rid of them. So anyhow,
I can't leave that point, Ken Cober, what was your
(01:59):
reaction to what was announced yesterday and how do you
think it's going to help or do you think it
was missing some elements?
Speaker 3 (02:04):
What more do we need? Let's talk.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
No, I think it's going to be helpful.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
What's truly going to be helpful is if the federal
prosecutor starts prosecuting these people federally guidelines, sentencing guidelines are
a lot more strict criminals on the streets fear the
federal court system because they know they're going to get
locked up for a long time, and they're likely going
(02:32):
to be sentenced and locked away far, far far from
their home, which will be something that'll be very very beneficial.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Agree on all that question.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Are there federal crimes that mirror the state crimes across
the board? Or are we left with the Hamilton County
judges and judicial system to deal with the state crimes exclusively.
I guess the problem is bringing the Feds in. There
has to be a parallel federal charge.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Yeah, which just about.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
Every gun charge is going to be a federal crime,
just about every drug trafficking charge is similar. In what
they're looking at is focusing on those recidivists, those that
are already convicted felons that have been convicted of violent felonies,
that have recommitted crimes, and take them federally on these
(03:21):
gun charges that you know a lot of them carry.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Minimum sentences of ten plus years. Get them in the
federal system and get them out of Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Sounds like a great idea. Has that sort of topic
been broached? Do we know if the local federal prosecutors
are willing to step up and take on that extra
role and take on the additional work Ken.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
Yeah, And it's it's always been, you know, a topic
of discussion. You know, we used to have a thing
in this since the police Depfarmers called Project Disarmed, where
they would take cases federally for the the most violent
of a recidivist. But having a new Southern Ohio District
prosecutor who is ripborn and ready to go, I think
(04:03):
it's going to make an immediate impact when we have,
you know, some of these recidivists to take them federal,
get them out of the county system where you know,
we know that judges may or may not actually lock
people up and keep them locked up, So if they
put them in the federal system, it's a lot better
likelihood that they're going to stay locked up and be
(04:23):
gone for a long time.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
I concur with your conclusion on that. I think you're
very accurate on that. So I think that's an outstanding
a suggestion, truly. I mean, I have a problem with
federalizing crime across the board because that gives far more
power to the federal government. That's just me being a
believer in state power and the limitations of the federal government.
But it is a solution to soft on crime judges
(04:47):
here locally, because yeah, the federal prosecutors they do have
the sentence in guidelines and if you've got a gun charge,
that guy's going to jail.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Pause.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
We'll bring Kenkber back and find out if this Southern
Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strikeforce Team which dwind off, is going
to be able to help get some of these bad
guys we're looking for off the streets. And isn't that
in and of itself and acknowledgment that we need more
police officers downtown to do that job. Six point thirty
five more with ken Kober coming up, don't go away.
And I want to mention doctor Fred pack my dentist.
(05:16):
I love doctor Fred Peck. Great guy and a genius,
and I can say that unqualified. No, I don't know
what his test scores are, but if you see the
amazing work that he can do by the way of
cosmetic dentistry, you'll give him a nod. Yep, that's genius
right there. Transformative, life changing dental work from the cosmetic
dentist that is doctor Fred Peck. One of only three
(05:38):
fellows at the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry that even
are in the state of the entire state, I mean
dentists are there in the state. He's one of three
that have achieved the fellowship status. That's because he is
mind blowing when it comes to cosmetic dentistry. So to
see the before and after pictures he's done, be blown
away as well, and have him take care of that
smile that you're not happy with. But in terms of
general dentistry, the best go out there. The state of
(06:00):
the Art clinic got the best possible people working forum,
customer service fantastic. And if you don't like going to
the dentist, I'd say you're gonna like going doctor Fred Peck.
Online PEC pec kpeck smiles dot com. Tom Brian said, hoigh,
when you call for that appointment five one three six
two one seventy six sixty six five one three six
two one seventy six sixty.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Six fifty five KRC.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Six thirty eight fifty five KRCD Talk Station Brian Thomas
Slong with FOP President Ken Kober. We're talking about crime
in the city. Governor Mike Dewin announcing a partnership yesterday
with I have to have pro Ball, and one of
the elements of that is Dwine's offering the Southern High
Fugitive Apprehension Strikeforce Team, which we'll be focusing on people
who are currently wanted for violent crime and then those
(06:46):
who've served time that are on prol but have violated
the terms of the Pearl. These are bad guys out
on the street we need to find and pick up. Ken,
Isn't that sort of I read into that that we
need more police officers because the police departm from the
City of Cincinnati. One of your duties is to find
these bad guys if they're roman around the city of Cincinnati.
If you have more police officers, they be able to
(07:07):
take on that responsibility and find these folks. Is that
really the key to the problem. There more police officers?
And if so, is there enough money being allocated toward
police in this most recent five point four million spending
measures they're supposed to approve today, because I saw that
a lot of the money was just going to go
for current police officer overtime. Now there is an allocation
(07:29):
of money for I think advertising to get police lateral
hires and hire them away. But advertising is one thing.
Actually getting police on the street in uniform, that's a
bigger challenge.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Ken, Sure, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
I mean, the bottom line is we've got to hire
more police officers.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
I was just talking to the chief yesterday about this.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
In an August alone, just August one month, officers worked
over twenty three thousand hours of overtime. Oh my god,
not including yeah, the one month, and that's been pretty
consistent over the year. Now, part of that is, you know,
private overtime, whether they're working a construction detail or working
(08:10):
for a bar, or working for the reds FC whatever.
But twenty three thousand hours, and that's not including officers
going to court, it's not including a late radio run,
an investigation. So it's probably closer to about thirty thousand hours.
And that's that's every month that these officers are doing this, and.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
They're doing it because they're committed to keeping the city safe.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
But I'll tell you, burnout is real, and you know,
they can throw more overtime at it, which I appreciate
the fact that the council wants to do that. But
there's gonna be a breaking point, right and these officers
are getting there. It's been a long year, it's been
a violent summer, and officers are getting tired of consistently
putting in sixty seventy hours a week.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I can only imagine. And well, I mean, of course
you got these early retirements. People aren't even participating in
the drop program. They're just like I'm done, I'm gone.
And increases the problem. And that's still a concept going
on right now, ken, isn't it.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
Well absolutely, you know that it is a problem. And
what we're seeing as officers that just get burnt out.
They get burnt out as soon as they get their
twenty five years, they just leave because I mean, how
many years, consistently, year after year can you go out
and work sixty or seventy hours a week, you know, yearly,
uh and year after year after year, you just get
(09:32):
burnt out. It's like anything else, you know, you have
you do the same thing over and over and over
for such an extended period of time, and they get
burn out, like I'm done with this.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I just want to retire.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
And you know, I think about the ripple effect on that.
Not to go down to some cul de sac here
that's unnecessary, but obviously that has a profound impact on
their family life. I mean, I imagine a lot of
divorces coming from that, a lot of children not seeing
their mom or dad because of the overtime hours. So
that that's a tough thing to have to deal with
when you're a police officer.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Yeah, absolutely, you've got to be able to try to
manage your raising, the family. So if you're married, all
of those things on top of the demands of or
one hundred and fifty officers short. We have been consistently
for years now, and there is certainly a cause and
effect all these things. And like I said, and that's
what we're seeing is it's driving officers just to retire early,
which of course then has even a more negative effect
(10:25):
on manpower.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Have there been any efforts yet to mean, to really
go after these lateral hires. I mean, I keep hearing
about it, and I've heard it. I've heard told that
it should be fairly easy to lure other police officers
who are uniformed and licensing wherever they happen to be patrolling,
to get them to come to the City of Cincinnati,
better salary, perhaps better pension. But is that happening, mean
(10:48):
that I haven't heard anything in terms of numbers of
acquiring lateral hires. There's literally nothing reported on that.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Ken. Is there anything like that going on right now?
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Well? Yeah, I mean there was certainly a push for it.
Speaker 5 (11:00):
There are some nuances to this that are gonna have
to be worked out, but I'm telling you and I
had officers that were calling me from other agencies that
were considering doing this, and then they saw the way
that this you know, attack at Fourth and Elm was handled,
you know, having council members come out and say, oh.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
That those people beg for that beat down.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
That that absolutely negatively affected efforts by the police department
to recruit laterals because.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
They don't to deal with it.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
You know, when I started here twenty five years ago,
you know, I didn't come here because I thought the
mayor the city.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Manager was gonna pat me on the back.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
I came here for opportunity, uh, you know, to work
in an urban environment where there's a lot of opportunity
to have different jobs. And it's been awesome. But you know,
the cops of this generation see the negative things that
council members have said, inflammatory things that they've said, and went,
I don't.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Need to come here, I'll just stay where I'm at yep.
And that's that has had a bad impact on.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
That really has, and there's no doubt about it. And
you know, the mayor and council only have themselves to
blame for that. For more outlauds supporting the police department.
And then we find out yesterday when the charging documents
are finally released, that the element of the crime that
was the lynchpin to getting a fourth degree misdemeanor filed
against the white guy who hit the slab didn't even
(12:20):
wasn't even there. They're missing a whole element of the crime,
which is one of the reasons why I guess the
police officers didn't want to issue a citation and why
the prosecutor haven't County prosecutor didn't want to issue a citation,
and yet a citation was issued anyway, So this whole
trip was completely unnecessary. I was really appalled at the
revelations on that. So it's really not making the city
(12:43):
of Cincinnat look that great when it comes to again
law enforcement. So, and can I just throw out something
Fred called earlier today. He's a good caller and he
lives over in Westwood. Apparently mckenry is a real problem.
We got gangs of people hanging out on corners what
he described as controlling the streets, engaging a criminal activity.
Joe Streker chimed in with me after Fred spoke his
(13:03):
piece and he was talking to me off air. He said,
oh my god, he goes I used to have to
drive back and forth all the time when I was
dealing with my ex wife, and he said it is
a dangerous street to even drive on. He said, you
got to roll your windows up and lock the doors.
Are you familiar with mckenry and Westwood as being a problem,
Ken just I hate to throw this at you sort
of out of nowhere, but it did come up this morning.
(13:24):
Since since Joe Strecker really really backed what Fred was saying.
I thought that was rather interesting, and isn't that an
area where we could use more police officers?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Well, it is that.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
It's absolutely ironic that you bring up specifically mckenry Avenue.
I was at internal yesterday for an officer who had
a complaint filed against some when it was a nonsense complaint,
and the complaint was all over an officer who stopped
the vehicle.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
That was the vehicle was stopped in the.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Middle of the street and was having a conversation with
known drug dealers, and the officers ended up deciding to
you'll follow the vehicle, identify a traffic violation and stop
them to see what's going on. So there is certainly
work being done there. There's more work that needs to
be done there, but you know, we're certainly aware that
(14:13):
that that area has a lot of problems and it's
something that is being addressed on a daily basis.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Fair enough, Ken Again, I mean to put on a spot,
but I'm glad I did in that regard, But I
think maybe you'd be the first person to agree with me.
That's one street in one neighborhood, and it's not the
only one that has struggles like.
Speaker 5 (14:31):
That without a doubt, without a doubt, and those are
things that officers are having to deal with on a
daily basis. And you know, it's certainly something that when
we get one hundred and fifty one hundred and sixty
more cops is going to be certainly easier to address
those issues.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Amen, and that result and that that relief can't come
soon enough. So we'll all pray for the city and
that we can get these officers on board. Was was
there anything real quick for we part company can cover
in the propos of the five point four million dollar
package of stuff that they're supposed to approve that it
looks like they will approve. Is there anything in there
that you think was stupid or a foolish allocation? Know
(15:07):
that money should not go to that program. It should
go to maybe hiring more police or maybe more overtime
or whatever, or not even be included an allocation of money.
Anything in there that's that's pointless from your perspective.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Ken, No, when you.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Look at sometimes how the city will squander away money,
I think everything that was done in that is at
least done in good faith and trying to make an
impact on safety. So that's something that we're certainly thankful for.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
I said.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
The only thing that really kind of jumped out of
me was, you know, the additional overtime, which is which
is fantastic if we can get officers to volunteer for it.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
It's something that this shouldn't be forced. They shouldn't be
ordering these cops to do it.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
As you know, I talked earlier about how much how
much overtime has been worked. So yeah, we do have
like the Reds you know, are gonna be wrapping up
their season soon, so it will hopefully have officers that
you know that typically worked at might be have an
opportunity to work other overtime.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
But it's something where.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
This is all going to have to be done at
this point on a voluntary basis because officers are just
getting barn out and they're tired.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
And that's the only going to exacerbate the problem even further.
Ken Kobert, thank you for your time today. I appreciate
you spending time with my listeners and me and going
through these issues. You got a lot of challenges on
your plate and we all have your back here on
the fifty five krs Morning Show and our listening audience.
God bless you, sir, and the police department as well.
We'll have you back on real soon.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Sure, thanks for having me, Brian.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Pleasure Ken as always, it's six forty nine right now,
fifty five K see the talk station, Oh the Man,
the Mental Legend, Jack Athan and the Big Picture with
Jack add and coming up after the top of the air,
and you's got to stick around for that. He's going
to talk about how to save our cities, continuing a
theme here on the morning show. But first, Cross Country Mortgage.
Get in touch with Susant Low's Camp Across Country Mortgage
(16:55):
for any mortgage related issue question you got. She's the best.
You couldn't find a better person because she's terrific good,
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Speaker 3 (17:59):
It's see c M dot com fifty five K the
talk station, the desor node
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