Wednesday, July 07, 1999
Covington police project credited with 14% drop in major crime
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — Major crime has decreased by more than 14 percent for the first half of 1999 in Covington, and the police department's Operation Clean Sweep is getting a lot of the credit.
From Jan. 1 through June 30, the city recorded 1,541 part-one (felony) crimes, compared to 1,797 part-one crimes for the same period in 1998, a reduction of 14.3 percent.
“I think we can attribute much of the reduction in felonies to Operation Clean Sweep,” Covington's Assistant Police Chief, Lt. Col. Bill Dorsey, said Tuesday after the six-month crime statistics were released. “We targeted crack dealers on the city's East Side, where much of the major crimes occur. It's made a difference.”
He pointed out there were only two shootings investigated in the East Side since Jan. 1, “and they were related incidents where the two people just happened to be in the same area and had nothing to do with the neighborhood. That was early in the year, and there has not been a shooting in the that area since.”
For the first six months,
Covington has recorded two murders, compared to four for the same period last year; 15 forcible rapes, compared to 18 last year; 315 burglaries compared to 330; 895 larceny-theft reports, compared to 1,087 last year; and 126 motor vehicle thefts, compared to 162 last year.
“Another reason for the decrease in crime is the continued program of Community Oriented Policing (COP),” Lt. Col. Dorsey said. “We are getting information from neighbors that we never got before. We are proactive about citizen complaints.”
He also credited the use of civilian workers in such areas as the crime lab and the impound lot for freeing up more uniform officers for street patrol.
“Since 1978, we have reduced (uniform) administrative staff from 11 percent of the department to six percent,” he said. “And we have an extremely talented and motivated group of officers on the streets.”
Newport, Covington's neighboring city across the Licking River, also has seen a reduction in violent crime this year, according to Police Chief Tom Fromme.
“We had two murders last year, and so far have none this year,” Chief Fromme said. “For the first six months of last year we had seven rapes, and we've had four this year.”
Like Covington, Newport's early statistics show decreases in other part-one crimes such as robberies, burglaries and auto thefts.
“Although our violent crimes are down, it will be hard to beat last year,” Chief Fromme said. “We had a really great year in terms of crime reduction. We only had 34 robberies and 122 burglaries for the entire year.”
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