As Cincinnati Police entered a fourth day of trying to control violent protesters, the president of the police union said officers are “fed up.”

        “(City) council needs to come up with something really fast because this city is on the slippery slope, and if the police department doesn't get political support we're going to turn into another Detroit,” said Keith Fangman, Fraternal Order of Police president.

        Mr. Fangman talked with the Enquirer after a 12-hour, 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. shift on the streets and a lengthy appearance on a radio talk show.

        “It's going to come to a point where the officers are going to shut down and say we can't take it anymore,” he said.

        Mr. Fangman expressed anger toward city council and Mayor Charlie Luken for not giving the police division the moral and financial support it deserves.

        On the radio he said: “Quite frankly many of them on council have inflamed the situation in the past few months with talk about Cincinnati police officers murdering African-American males but not telling people the truth about all the officers that have been shot at by these African-American males. We're fed up.”

        Mr. Fangman said the racial profiling ordinance passed by council March 28 was based on false and inaccurate information.

        “The only thing to improve morale is for council to come forward and admit that the racial profiling ordinance was nothing more than a political stunt,” Mr. Fangman said. “We're in the middle of a riot and I can guarantee you we are stopping, detaining and questioning people in the neighborhoods where there is unrest.

        “Two weeks ago council called that racial profiling. Now that the city is burning the council doesn't know what to say.”

        Mr. Fangman also said the National Guard would not be needed if the mayor and council had done their jobs correctly.

        “If they had hired more police officers instead of killing a 38-member police recruit class,” he said. “If they had brought us up to what it was in the 1970s - which was 1,250 instead of the measly 1,020 we have now - we wouldn't have to worry about needing the National Guard.”

        Cincinnati Police now operate on a “daily code zero,” which means that there are often no police cars available to answer calls. Mr. Fangman said it happens every day.

        He doesn't want sympathy from council or the mayor.

        “We want tangible results,” Mr. Fangman said. “We want more officers in the neighborhoods. We want more two-man cars. It's safer.”

        Yet despite his numerous frustrations with the lack of city support, Mr. Fangman said Cincinnati Police will maintain their professionalism.

        “The citizens come first,” Mr. Fangman said. “We're going to do everything we need to do to protect the city from the grip of anarchy.”

        Bits and pieces of that anarchy might already have arrived.

        Earlier on WLW-AM, Mr. Fangman said, “The whole world has just been turned upside down and our officers are demanding that our members of council grow a backbone and grow a spine and say enough is enough.

        “We are not going to negotiate with these terrorists and that's what they are. These are nothing but terrorists out here on the street.

        “If we give one inch to these terrorists in the form of negotiations, then we've got no one to blame but ourselves when we turn into another Detroit or Washington, D.C.”

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