COVINGTON — To stop crime, you need to go where it happens.

        When bulletproof glass is installed and a sign hung outside the door, the newest police bureau will officially open in the Jacob Price housing complex. The substation is in an east-side neighborhood with a reputation for shootings and widespread drug dealing.

Covington Police Spec. Gene Neal stands in the doorway of the department's new substation in the Jacob Price housing complex on the city's east side. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        Initiatives by police, including opening five substations, has decreased gang activity and helped bring major crimes, such as murder and robbery, to a seven-year low in Northern Kentucky's largest city, police say.

        “It's hard to point to one thing and say that's why crime is down,” said Lt. Col. Jim Liles, an assistant chief with Covington police. “It is a combination of everything. The statistics here mirror a national trend of lower crime rates.”

        Major crimes reported in Covington range from a high of 4,646 in 1994 to a low of 3,118 last year, according to uniform crime statistics provided to the Justice Department. That's a 32.9 percent decrease.

        Even with an upswing of gang-related crime in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine — with nearly 50 shootings in six weeks — there have been only two shootings during the same time in Covington's east side, police say.

CRIME TREND

Here are the numbers of major crimes reported in Covington over the past seven years. The list shows a 32.9 percent decrease. Major crimes are murder, arson, rape, robbery, burglary, theft, auto theft and assault.   1994: 4,646   1995: 4,289   1996: 3,589   1997: 3,765   1998: 3,609   1999: 3,252   2000: 3,118

        A downturn in street crimes was noticeable right after a detail called Operation Clean Sweep started in early 1999, said Specialist Gene Neal, an officer who has been the department's gang investigator for two years.

        The program put extra officers on the streets who made hundreds of arrests, had inmates pick up trash and threw block parties for residents. The FBI has honored Covington police, Kenton County sheriff's deputies and the Kenton County Jail for their involvement in the program.

        Operation Clean Sweep came after a rash of gang-related shootings in 1998 and 1999, some of which were followed by near-riots in the east-side neighborhood.

        “Operation Clean Sweep was definitely the turning point,” said Mr. Neal, who works out of the Jacob Price bureau. “The numbers (of crimes) have decreased. We have (fewer) gangs, less violence, less shootings.”

        Mr. Neal said police worked hard to identify gang leaders and take them off the street. He said removing the instigators helped to neutralize the gangs.

        The gangs known to operate in Covington are branches of the Crips and the Bloods, with 12th Street on the east side as the dividing line between turf. The Bloods operate south of 12th, with the Crips to the north of 12th.

        When a known gang member is sent to jail, officials moved him from one facility to another before the gang member can establish contacts in prison. And once identified gang members are released, a condition of their parole is they have no contact with other known gang members.

        Kenton County Sheriff Chuck Korzenborn said it was important to increase the number of officers in troubled areas. He said when he took office in 1999, he encouraged deputies to assist Covington police whenever possible. That includes participating in the Safe Streets task force.

        There are more than 100 Safe Streets task forces across the country. They operate out of FBI field offices, and allow agents in each office to identify hot spots for drug activities.

        The previous sheriff had removed his deputy from the task force after federal agents arrested a deputy for dealing drugs.

        To reduce drug activity, Covington police requested a force of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents known as a “mobile enforcement team.”

        The team, along with help from the Safe Streets task force, resulted in the arrest of nearly 40 people this year on charges ranging from possession to dealing drugs.

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