Tuesday, October 05, 1999
Sentinels recommend improvements for officers
MInority police group seeks more training for all
BY WILLIAM A. WEATHERS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Responding to complaints from the community regarding alleged police misconduct, the Sentinel Police Association on Monday released a report containing recommendations designed to improve police-community relations.
“To dispel the community's negative perception of police misconduct and initiate the process of trust and healing, the police agency must take a proactive role in the overall development of each and every officer,” Cincinnati police Spc. and Sentinel President Cecil Thomas said at a news conference.
The Sentinel organization is composed of about 250 minority officers in the Cincinnati Police Division.
The recommendations reflect the organization's belief that the city's management systems for training, misconduct investigation, supervision and discipline have failed.
Among the recommendations:
• Creation of a database and computerized tracking and warning system that would permanently track each officer's performance, including complaints, use of force, discipline, arrests and traffic stops. The Sentinel organization will seek legislative support for the requirement that racial statistics be included with traffic-stops record keeping.
• Provide more officer training on communications skills and the use of verbal de-escalation techniques as alternatives to the use of force and physical lockups. The report found that a common factor in complaints was alleged discourtesy of officers, including refusal to explain his or her actions to the citizen.
• Allow a grand jury — not the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office — to determine whether criminal charges be filed against an officer.
The fact that Prosecutor Mike Allen is a former police officer appears to have created “a distrustful perception” that has negated the office's position of neutrality and/or impartiality, the report said.
• Establish a requirement that all field training officers (FTOs) have at least seven years of inner-city tactical police patrol experience. FTOs supervise rookie officers. The report notes that 70 percent of the police division's officers have less than 10 years of experience.
Copies of the report have been sent to the Ohio Attorney General's Office and U.S. Justice Department.
Police Chief Thomas H. Streicher said Monday he could not comment on the Sentinel report because he had not completed reading it.
“It's nothing short of bizarre,” said Keith Fangman, president of FOP Queen City Lodge 69, after reviewing the report. “The safety director released a study last year showing Cincinnati police have one of the lowest use-of-force rates of any comparably sized departments in the country.”
Regarding reports that the county prosecutor spurs distrust among community because he is an ex-cop, Mr. Fangman said, “As far as the so-called distrust of Prosecutor Mike Allen cutting cops a break because he is a former police officer, that's utter nonsense. Just ask the dozen or so police officers — including Cincinnati cops — who have been indicted or put in jail by Mike Allen. So much for showing favoritism.”
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