Mayor Charlie Luken outlined his anti-crime agenda Tuesday with a four-point plan that attempts to balance a tough-on-crime stance with better police-community relations.

        Mr. Luken released the first part of his “Blueprint for a Better Cincinnati,” five weeks before the general election will pit him against Charterite Courtis Fuller in the city's first modern, direct election for mayor.

Luken

        “It is time for this race to be engaged again,” Mr. Luken said, acknowledging that the campaign got “off track” because of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

        Other parts of his platform will be released in the next three weeks, Mr. Luken said. But he released his safety platform first, calling it “Security with Respect.” It includes four key steps:

        • A permanent Violent Crimes Task Force. The 70-member task force, created in July in response to the summer's violent crime wave, has made 1,092 arrests as of Tuesday.

        • More police in the neighborhoods. Because the task force has depleted the division's strength in outlying districts, the city should hire more police officers and make them visible across the city, he said. Many of those officers would be in bicycle and horse patrols, he said.

        • Recruiting good officers. He said the city “hasn't gone far enough in recruiting minority police officers” and should cast a wider net in looking for qualified candidates.

        • Better training. The Police Division should implement recommendations from the U.S. Justice Department and the mayor's own race relations commission, and training should include more instruction in community relations, he said.

        Mr. Fuller did not return phone calls seeking comment.

        However, he has said that he also supports the addition of 75 police officers, and would make the Violent Crimes Task Force permanent.

        Mr. Fuller also has said he would make the police department more accountable by giving subpoena power and support staff to the Citizens Police Review Panel.

        Mr. Luken opposes subpoena power, saying it's inappropriate for an unelected board. Announcing his plan in a 10-minute news conference in front of Police District 1 headquarters Tuesday, Mr. Luken gave few specifics.

        He did not say how he would pay for the additional police officers, but said eliminating the Human Relations Commission, as one council member has suggested, was not the answer.

        Mr. Luken said the city should look at the “best practices” of other cities in recruiting and training. For example, he said, the police division should do more recruiting on college campuses, doing “what Procter & Gamble and IBM do.”

        There's nothing in Mr. Luken's safety agenda that hasn't already been discussed at City Hall or within the Police Division.

        Indeed, City Council debated a proposal for 75 more police officers in a committee meeting Tuesday, and decided to put the issue off until the budget process next year.

        “There's no free college here. There's no pie-in-the-sky proposals here,” Mr. Luken said. “This is basic stuff the city needs to do in order to move forward.”

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