Responding to mounting evidence of a "slowdown" by Cincinnati police, city leaders are all telling police to get back to work. They're just saying it in different ways.

Mayor Charlie Luken appeals to officers' professionalism: "The tone is, those men and women are ready to do the job it takes to make Cincinnati safe."

Councilman Pat DeWine is more blunt: "If you collect a city paycheck, we expect you to do your job."

And Police Chief Tom Streicher's approach is cryptic: "Eat more chicken."

The slogan, borrowed from the Chick-fil-a ads, is the theme of the chief's pep talk to officers about being more aggressive.

Which approach is working best?

At last week's recruit-class graduation, valedictorian Michelle A. Bradley said the class was a little nervous but ready to do its job.

"I want to challenge all of us to utilize all of the principles we learned in the police academy," she said. "And also, do what the police chief has asked, and `Eat more chicken.'"

Campaign trail: Cincinnati Democrats are engaged in one if their greatest biennial parlor games, betting on a question that only one man has the answer to: Will Paul Booth run for re-election, or won't he?

One prominent Democrat says Booth "strongly implied" he was done with politics after this year.

Some Democratic sources insist that Booth flatly told his colleagues in a Democratic caucus meeting last Wednesday that he was leaning toward running for a third full term on City Council.

And yet another story has it that Booth will resign before his term is up, to give Democrats a chance to appoint a replacement who will have the power of incumbency in November.

What does Booth himself have to say about all this?

"That's for Paul Booth to announce," he said.

Some Democrats say that Booth likes the attention that comes with waiting until the last moment to make a decision.

Booth said he doesn't understand all the fuss.

"They start this about me every year," he said.

Aborted: The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees has filed a grievance over the city's decision to exclude abortion coverage from employee health benefits.

"It's a contractual issue and yes, it is important," said Bob Turner, executive director of AFSCME Ohio Council 8, which represents about 2,500 city employees. "To us the issue isn't abortion, it's changing the current benefit package without bargaining."

The city has denied the grievance, which now goes to mediation.

Councilman Chris Monzel sponsored an ordinance forbidding taxpayer money from being used for elective abortions just before the 2001 election. That ordinance was slow to be implemented because, as Monzel put it, some "faceless city bureaucrat" decided it violated the labor contracts. Monzel all but called for that "bureaucrat" to be fired.

Your tax money: The aforementioned bureaucrat, city risk manager Chuck Haas, should be getting a mayoral proclamation. The city is the first and only government entity in the state to be self-insured for workers compensation purposes, which is expected to save taxpayers up to $6 million this year and $1 million in future budgets.

Effective Jan. 1, the city is no longer sending insurance premiums to Columbus. And because the city has reduced workplace accidents over the last 14 years, the savings are tremendous.

Haas said he doesn't expect much credit. "It's all behind-the-scenes stuff. The only people who appreciate it are the budget people," he said.

Broadcast news: Dateline NBC is snooping around City Hall, looking to do a story on racial profiling in the two years since Officer Stephen Roach shot Timothy Thomas in an alley April 7, 2001.

In a letter requesting police dispatch tapes, crime-scene photos and cruiser videos of the incident, producer Jason Samuels writes, "NBC News is exploring (the possibly of) producing an insightful documentary on the events that have taken place in Cincinnati in the last two years and the issues they raise."

City Hall reporter Gregory Korte can be reached at 768-8391 or gkorte@enquirer.com.