By Jane Prendergast and Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati's police union president says officers will have to make their own decisions about how proactive they'll be after the City Council's decision to reject the police supervisors' contract.

Roger Webster insisted he's not advocating a work slowdown, but that he's certain some officers will respond with a "screw the city'' attitude.

And he said if he were a beat cop now, he'd only go on radio runs a dispatcher sent him to and not do anything self-initiated.

He said he knew those were strong words from the mouth of the leader of the police union. And Mayor Charlie Luken said any kind of work slowdown would be unacceptable.

They're nearly the exact words spoken by former President Keith Fangman almost two years ago after two officers were indicted for the death in custody of Roger Owensby Jr. That started a police backlash against City Hall, which was exacerbated after the April 2001 riots and with the year-long U.S. Department of Justice investigation and racial-profiling lawsuit, during which officers felt they were not supported by city officials.

An Enquirer analysis of police department records early this year was suggestive of a slowdown after the riots: Violent crime was up 39 percent in the first few months of 2002 compared to the same period in 2001, but arrests were down 10 percent. In addition, revenue from traffic tickets for all of 2001 fell by $2 million.

Morale seemed to improve after things like the resolution of council support several weeks ago and the announcement that the six officers who fired beanbags into a crowd after the riots would have their legal fees paid.

Thursday, the slowdown talk was back.

Officers talked about slowing down in support of their bosses. Supervisors won't have a pay raise effective Sunday, when officers will.

"I've never seen morale this low,'' Officer Fangman said Thursday. "Never.''

Council voted 7-2 against the supervisors' contract. At issue were four assistant chief positions left in the proposed contract by city and union negotiators, despite a 2001 city charter amendment that removed them from civil-service job protection.

Voters approved the reform measure, known as Issue 5, last November in what supporters saw as a key post-riot reform of the Cincinnati Police Department. By giving the city manager greater latitude to hire and fire the police chief and assistant chiefs, voters approved stronger civilian oversight.

The FOP campaigned against the amendment. Councilman Pat DeWine led the charge for it. All council members but Jim Tarbell and Chris Monzel voted against the supervisors' contract. They said they did so out of duty to voters and the city charter.

Mr. Webster said if he has anything to say about it, Mr. Tarbell and Mr. Monzel will be the only two council members endorsed next year by the union, along with Mr. Luken, if he runs again in three years.

Council members did approve a separate contract for non-supervisors - the officers and specialists who make up about three-fourths of the 1,020-member force. They will get raises of as much as 5 percent in 2003 and 5 percent in 2004, but will pay health-care premiums for the first time.

The contracts also make important changes in arbitration. City officials hope the changes will help them get rid of bad police officers. The city has lost every arbitration case since 1996.

"The timing of it is poor with all the relationships we've been trying to build and everything that's been going on throughout the city,'' said Capt. Greg Snider, District 1 commander. "But I'm still a Cincinnati police captain. I still have a job to do. I think a lot of supervisors feel that way. They're disappointed, but life goes on.''

The city's negotiating team met Thursday afternoon with its newest member, Mr. DeWine. Mayor Luken appointed the councilman to the team Wednesday.

The union's wage team will meet today or Monday, Mr. Webster said, to talk about legal strategies. He did not want to reveal any options. The parties have until Jan. 3 to reach a new agreement or go to fact-finding.

"As I told (City Councilwoman Alicia) Reece, our strategy - as much as she would like to know what that is - is none of her business,'' Officer Fangman said. "Was Council's action a slap in the face to our police officers? Yes."

Jerry Markley, president of Citizens on Patrol in Madisonville, stayed up late Wednesday to watch the news about the FOP contract. He admitted some concern about how the officers might handle it, but he listened Thursday to the scanner in his living room as a District 2 officer chased a suspect on foot in the rain on Erie Avenue.

"I think there's going to be some concerns raised,'' he said. "But that word, slowdown? I, for one, don't think the officers I know are going to do that."

Mr. Luken said the contract squabble comes just as he was becoming more hopeful about law enforcement, the crime rate and police-community relations.

"There is no question that in the last three or four months, police have returned to a much more proactive model,'' he said. "They've been working hard and making arrests."

E-mail jprendergast@enquirer.com and gkorte@enquirer.com