Bambi McLendon has seen crime increase in her five years living in the West End. She hopes a new police substation near her apartment will halt that trend.
As community leaders gave tours of the substation, located in the Laurel Homes complex, Ms. McLendon leaned on a fence outside Wednesday and watched children pet a Cincinnati Police horse. She was glad to see so many officers in her neighborhood for reasons other than a crime. And she was glad a new substation will bring them here often.
"I hope it will make a difference," Ms. McLendon said. "There's too much crime here. It's very busy, and there are lots of kids running around. I hope this can make it safer."
That is the same hope of community leaders, police and the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority, which is donating space for the substation. They plan to recruit volunteers and use police interns to staff the office when officers are on patrol.
Most of the city's 28 other substations are low profile and are used sparingly. At least five have no phone. They are simply a meeting space, or a desk for officers to do paperwork before returning to their beats, said Capt. Vince Demasi, police District 1 commander.
While West End residents are hoping their new substation will enhance police presence in their neighborhood, the manager of a South Cumminsville apartment complex that donated space for a substation hasn't seen an officer use it the past year.
"When we first opened it years back, we had a few show up -- but they disappeared," said Maureen Wood, executive director of the Women's Research and Development Center, which runs the Garfield Commons Apartments on Elmore Street. "We would like to see it used more often, if for no other reason than to bring more officers to this part of town."
Despite her complaint, she is a fan of developing substations. Bringing cops to neighborhoods helps prevent crimes, and assures help when emergencies do happen, she said.
Since 1993, Oxnard, Calif., has opened four police substations, manned regularly by officers in high-crime areas. It also has six "drop-off" centers, used much like Cincinnati's substations: Offices to do paperwork, eat lunch and meet residents.
Cincinnati Officer Princess Davis gives Elision Woods, 6, a tickle on the cheek as they attend the opening of the police substation.
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While Oxnard supports a smaller police force, about 200 sworn officers compared with Cincinnati's nearly 1,000, they face the same task, fighting crime, said Oxnard Police spokesman David Keith.
Within a year, the six-block neighborhood around the first manned substation experienced a 53 percent drop in crime, Mr. Keith said. And even with limited use, crime near "drop-off" centers fell 20 percent to 25 percent. Like in Cincinnati, the "drop-off" centers require little investment. Office space is donated. The manned stations are more expensive because officers are paid to be there, while others patrol the neighborhood.
With the increased popularity of community-based police efforts, more cities are turning to substations to build relationships with residents, said Kevin Avery, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice's office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.
While police have worked out of precincts and district offices away from headquarters for years, putting officers in housing complexes and malls has been discovered as a way to connect officers with the public, Mr. Avery said. There has been little study of their effectiveness, but feedback has been positive, he said.
It would be hard to gauge what impact substations have, Capt. Demasi said. Officers will be closer to residents, and response times may be lowered for some incidents, but community response will determine how successful the West End program is, he said. He would like to see residents use it to meet officers, report crimes and offer tips.
West End residents Shirley Colbert and Lottie Thomas, leaders in the Laurel Homes Resident Council, have been fighting for the substation since 1990. Now that they have it, they plan to support it, Mrs. Colbert said.
"It's taken quite some time," Mrs. Colbert said, "but we now have a partnership to make this a safe place."
