Every day Cincinnati police officers might draw their guns dozens of times.

        They'll tell you it depends upon their shift, how busy the day is and whether they work, for example, in Mount Lookout or Avondale.

CURRENT RULES

The Cincinnati Police Department's Procedure 12.550, “Discharging of Firearms by Police Personnel,” also covers the drawing of weapons:     • It begins by reinforcing that “the authority to carry and use firearms in the course of public service also carries with it the highest level of responsibility.”     • An officer can “display” a firearm when he perceives a threat of loss of life or serious physical harm to himself or others.     • At that time, the officer can take the gun out for self-defense — but keep his finger outside the trigger guard. The finger is only to be placed on the trigger when “on target and ready to engage a threat.”

        The U.S. Department of Justice wants Cincinnati cops to make a report every time they draw their weapon and point it at someone. The department is resisting, saying such a requirement would make a mountain of paperwork, chill morale and endanger officers who might hesitate in a dangerous situation.

        The city could be the first to require a report. The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., has discussed the issue, but a spokesman said Friday no rule was in place.

        The unholstering debate was sparked this week by the release Monday of the city's response to 91 separate Justice recommendations. The city agreed with many, wrote ambiguous wording in some and promised enhanced training in many areas. The Justice Department sent the city its recommendations last October.

        Negotiations between Cincinnati and the federal government lawyers are expected to conclude in the next couple of weeks. As the end draws nearer, local police officials have stopped discussing the contents of their response, saying they don't want to damage further talks.

        But the “un-holstering” recommendation — and the city's negative response to it — could end up being the most significant sticking point of the talks.

        It's of serious concern to some members of Cincinnati's black community, who told Justice representatives stories about having guns pulled on them for no reason, says attorney Ken Lawson. He plans to talk about it this week with Billy Martin, the city's Washington, D.C., lawyer.

        “It's a touchy subject,” said Susan Malie, who works in Pittsburgh's law department, where she monitors that city's compliance with its Justice consent decree.

        Pittsburgh officials discussed making a similar reporting requirement when making some changes to their force-reporting process after Justice started investigating the department five years ago. But they decided against it.

        “It's an officer-safety issue,” she said. “We don't want them to be thinking in the back of their heads when they're in a situation, "Am I going to have to document this?'”

        Cincinnati officers and supervisors have been told not to discuss the recommendations publicly. But many wonder how punitive an un-holstering policy might be.

        For example, if they work overnight in Over-the-Rhine, might they be punished for having more weapon-draws than another officer who sees less violent crime?

        Samuel Walker, a criminal-justice professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, is watching what happens here. He said Cincinnati's policy for drawing weapons mirrors others across the country, but that the key is the attitudes of those who enforce the policy.

        It's not surprising that no other city has started requiring unholstering records, he said. Agreements with the Justice Department are tailored to each city.

        David Dotson, a former assistant chief of the Los Angeles Police Department who managed that agency's discipline system, said Cincinnati might want to agree to rethink their rejection of the idea and do it just to be able to refute allegations that they misuse their guns.

        “I don't know if Cincinnati officers, as a matter of practice, screw their guns in people's ears at the slightest excuse or if it's just a perception people have,” he said. “I think it could be important to count it for that reason,” he said.

        He also noted that Justice didn't say to document every time a gun comes out of its holster — just every time it comes out and is pointed at someone, “a significant distinction.”
       

Sweetening the pot
Dockside issues include access, tax questions
16 and serving 6 years
Washington's criminal history
Psychic wounds persist
Bishop offers farewell
Work on I-275 set to begin
Crowd shows for hip-hop, not for O.J.
Elder gets gift of $1 million
Intelligent design explicated
Police resist gun-draw proposal
Power of incumbency leads to limited choice
Scalia to present lecture
Sycamore math whizzes take first at state meet
Tristate A.M. Report
BRONSON: Public housing
CROWLEY: Kentucky Politics
HOWARD: Some Good News
PULFER: The Yates trial
SMITH AMOS: New lease on life
Trees to be cut for street repairs
Abused-child rule may cut family placements
EPA targets big Ohio egg farm
Bill would give vets diplomas
Dayton mayor delays hiring of police chief
Four teens indicted in man's beating death
National GOP aims to topple Lucas