Friday, April 16, 1999
Major crimes keep going down
Violent cases fall 16.9% in first quarter of year
BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati is continuing a trend of a decrease in major crimes, according to neighborhood statistics Cincinnati police released Thursday.
Violent crimes in the first three months of the year dropped 16.9 percent, and property crimes dropped 15.5 percent compared with the same time last year.
The report looks only at the most serious crimes — murder, rape, robbery, aggravated as sault, burglary, larceny and auto theft.
The decrease is good news for neighborhoods such as Over-the-Rhine, a traditional hot spot for serious crimes. That neighborhood saw a 30 percent decrease in serious crimes during the time evaluated — 150 fewer serious crimes were reported.
But numbers that fluctuate year to year mean little to neighbors who see room for improvement.
“The crimes I'm concerned about are the ones that go unnoticed,” said Bill Barron, pas tor of Over-the-Rhine's Cincinnati Christian Church. “Like the drug dealing and prostitution.”
Likewise, John Schultz, a longtime resident and owner of a plumbing business in South Fairmount, said little things would go a long way in reducing crime even more. Serious crime there dropped by 29 reports, or 26.6 percent.
“Improving street lighting would be a big help,” Mr. Schultz said. “It's the quality-of-life issues — the unoccupied buildings, getting rid of the eyesores.”
Neighborhoods that saw jumps in crime include Hartwell, which had 28 more serious crimes reported — an increase of 66.7 percent, as well as slight increases in Carthage, Bond Hill, Clifton, English Woods, Fay Apartments, Millvale, Mount Adams, Mount Airy, Pleasant Ridge and Sedamsville.
Those in the city's safest neighborhoods credit neighborhood patrols and high police presence for keeping crime reports down.
“Fortunately, we don't have a lot of crime here, but we do know there's crime right over our borders,” said Beth Townsend, chairwoman for the Mount Lookout Civic Club. Serious crimes there fell by 24 reports, or 57.1 percent, during the time reviewed.
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