Tuesday, March 09, 1999
West side celebrates new chief
BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The speakers talked about high schools, sides of town, tradition and families. They talked about coming to honor “a cop's cop” and a man of integrity.
In an emotional ceremony Monday at City Hall, Thomas Streicher Jr., 45, followed what has become a ritual for west-siders from police families: He was sworn in as Cincinnati's new police chief.
The institutions that have meant something to the new chief throughout his life were all represented.
There was Tom Otten, principal of Elder High School, who was jokingly introduced as “Chief of Elder” because his graduates traditionally rival Western Hills High School grads for the position of chief.
There was the Rev. Ralph Westerhoff, a Catholic priest, who gave the invocation, and the Rev. Mark Pruden, the police chaplain, who offered a blessing.
Beside Mr. Otten, who was dressed in a school-color purple jacket, a line of blue represented the chief's police family. Former Chiefs Michael Snowden and Lawrence Whalen, retired officers and members of other police agencies looked on.
Across the front of the audience, the new chief's own family dotted the rows. One of his sisters held a photograph of Chief Streicher's late father, Thomas Henry Streicher Sr., a former Cincinnati police sergeant.
Chief Steicher said he visited his father's grave Sunday and talked about becoming chief. He said he felt as if his father was in the room for Monday's ceremony.
The chief talked about the philosophy he will bring to the office — one that adds courtesy and respect to the built-in honor and duty.
And he said he will depend on others to help him take on his new job, because “no one can be successful on their own.”
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