Crime roundtable: Take care of the city's youth

If the city wants to solve its crime problem, it needs to improve the way it handles juvenile criminals.

That was the re-occurring theme of a police roundtable of elected officials, community activists and police officers held Wednesday.

On the heels of a 28 percent increase in shootings in the City of Cincinnati from 2014 to 2015, Mayor John Cranley gathered the group as a first step to developing a plan to reduce violence. That plan will come together by spring, Cranley and Police Chief Eliot Isaac said.

"We’e doing things right, but we still have an unacceptable level of violence," Cranley said.

Among the two dozen gathered: City Manager Harry Black, Council members Christopher Smitherman and Wendell Young, Avondale leader Ozie Davis, Collaborative Agreement attorney Al Gerhardstein, community activist Iris Roley and the Rev. Damon Lynch III, pastor of New Prospect Baptist Church.

Lynch praised the city for being so far ahead of other cities, which are just now dealing with police community relations, but that does not mean the work is done, he said.

"We have been able to do what all these other cities have yet to do... We have something in Cincinnati to build off of," he said.

The agreement was signed 15 years ago in the aftermath of the 2001 riots. It guides how officers handle arrests.

"Does it need to be looked at, does it need to be tweaked?" He asked. "I am sure it does. Everybody wants to keep this alive as a model for nation. That is the work we have ahead of us."

Rickell Howard, of the Covington-based Children's Law Center, said there are too many juvenile arrests - and a disproportionate number of those arrested are black.

A look at court data shows, warrants were signed for 1,277 children under 18 in 2014 compared to 1,309 kids in 2013.

In 2014, 227 were white; 990 were black  In 2013, 227 were white and 1,030 were black.

"The young people that are arrested today end up adults wrapped up in the criminal justice system," she said. "Interaction with officers today changes interactions with police rest of their life."

She asked Cranley to bring a program called Strategies for Youth to the city. It's the only national program that provides training for police officers on how to better interact with kids, which could help avoid arrests.

"Children are the future of the Collaborative Agreement," she said.

State Senator Cecil Thomas, D-North Avondale, said for there to be success in policing the city must address poverty as well. That is a separate mayoral initiative, with a task force looking at reducing poverty.

"We should really make a serious commitment to focus on poverty," Thomas said. "We’re doing a lot and we’ve come a long way. But until we deal with elephant in room, which is poverty, we are going to continue to see this."

Community meetings set

A series of community meetings will take place over the next month where the community will be asked for input.

Jan. 11: Over-the-Rhine Recreation Center, 1715 Republic St.

Jan. 25: Evanston Recreation Center, 3204 Woodburn Ave.

Feb. 1: Westwood Town Hall, 3017 Harrison Ave.

Feb. 8, Bond Hill Community Center, 1501 Elizabeth Place

Feb. 22, College Hill Community Center, 5545 Belmont Ave.

* All meetings are from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.