They sip Gatorade. One favors the orange stuff. The other goes for red, Fierce Berry.

        They could be just two ordinary guys — one black, one white — cruising Over-the-Rhine.

        Except they are riding in a police car. And they're members of Cincinnati's Violent Crimes Task Force.

        Their job is to round up the bad guys in one of the most dangerous parts of town. Cuff them. Jail them. Then go back for more.

Cincinnati Police Officer Odayues Leonard reviews the list of most wanted criminals being pursued by the Violent Crimes Task Force. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        At high noon Friday, Officers Tim Hains and Odayues Leonard went about their business with an added element of stress. Just 12 hours earlier, another violent suspect, Rickey Moore, was shot to death by a Cincinnati police officer, Thomas Haas.

        The shooting and its possible aftereffects — unrest, violence, verbal abuse — were on the minds of both officers as they climbed into their 1999 Crown Victoria.

        Officer Hains took the wheel. And a bite of a pretzel log. Followed by orange Gatorade.

        Officer Leonard rode shotgun. As he scanned the landscape, he chewed on sunflower seeds.

        “I won't say a shooting heightens your awareness,” said Officer Leonard, a policeman since 1997.

        “But it sure does stick in your mind.”

        They've been shot at. On the second night of the April riots.

        They stood by Spec. Andrew Nogueira when his belt buckle stopped a bullet.

        “Tim pulled him to safety behind a firetruck,” Officer Leonard said of his partner of 18 months.

        They have told and retold that story. They think often about the shootings that have plagued the city since April.

        “But we don't dwell on them,” Officer Hains added. “We have a job to do.”

        Officer Leonard nodded.

        “The public,” he said, “still needs us.”

        They know not every member of the public likes them. Both officers expected to be harassed after this latest shooting.

        “The criminals want to see how much they can get away with,” said Officer Hains.

        “They want to see whether this task force is just for show.”

        As they drove slowly over the back streets of Over-the-Rhine, some residents waved. Others stowed bottles. A few raised hands with one finger showing.

        “You have to ignore that stuff, put it out of your mind,” said Officer Leonard.

        “I only have room in my mind for the things I enjoy doing with my wife, traveling, planting flowers, going to the movies.”

        After checking out a deli rumored to be ripe for a robbery, the officers received a call to back up a drug arrest at the intersection of 15th and Pleasant.

        The Crown Vic flew down the street, siren wailing.

        At all four points of the intersection of 15th and Pleasant, small pockets of people gathered. They stared silently at the police.

        Officers Hains and Leonard directed traffic. And covered each other's back.

        Later, Officer Leonard called his partner “one of the safest men to be with on the force.”

        Officer Hains is an 11-year veteran. The time since the riots has been stressful. But, it has not been his most trying experience since he started wearing a badge.

        “I was,” he said, after departing 15th and Pleasant, “Dan Pope's partner for three years.”

        Officer Pope and Spec. Ronald Jeter were gunned down by the same man in 1997. The city officially mourned their passing.

        Since then, Cincinnati's climate has changed. Police actions have been challenged, protested, investigated and taken to court.

        “Now we know there are people who are for us and people who are definitely against us,” said Officer Leonard.

        As the cruiser turned onto Liberty Street, an elderly black man hailed the car.

        “It was justified!” he shouted. “Good job!”

        He said he was a retired military man and he was talking about Friday's early morning shooting.

        Officer Hains called out: “We appreciate it, sir.”

        Officer Leonard said: “Thank you, sir.”

        Turning to his partner he added: “That kind of comment helps you keep your head up.”

        Minutes later, at 4 p.m. — the midpoint in the officers' shift — the car's computer beeped. A message flashed on the screen.

        “Be safe & courteous.”

        Both officers are.

        They hope everyone follows their lead.

        Cliff Radel is an Enquirer columnist who can be reached at 768-8379; fax 768-8340.
       

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