By Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Despite a 26-year high in killings in Cincinnati, reports of violent crime in the city dropped by nearly 9 percent last year, compared with 2002.

Reports of all serious crimes dipped by 2 percent citywide over the same time period, according to newly compiled police department statistics.

Violent crime is defined as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Serious crime includes all violent crime and adds reports of burglary, theft and auto theft.

Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher said it's unfortunate the drop in serious crime seems to have gotten lost in the conversation about the increase in homicides and ongoing debate about how to stop the killings.

"Violent crime is down 9 percent - that's a big number," Streicher said. "Drug arrests are up. How many homicides would we have if we didn't have those numbers?

"Is it good that we have 75 homicides?'' he said. "Hell, no. I'd rather it be back to zero."

Mayor Charlie Luken said the 2003 crime numbers were good, but he said more crime-fighting work needs to be done.

"I'm glad that the trend is at least better than it has been over the last few years,'' he said. "But we have a long way to go."

More arrests

Streicher praised his district captains for the city's decrease in most crimes. Besides murder, the only other crime that increased in 2003 was theft, up 2.8 percent.

Four of the five police districts recorded declines in violent crime, while one increased, but by less than 1 percentage point.

"The reductions in violent crime are really the global view for us," Streicher said Wednesday. "We know and realize that the drug culture breeds revenge among the players. That's a lot of where this violence is coming from."

The statistics also show that officers arrested more people and wrote more traffic tickets in 2003 than they did in 2002:

• Arrests for crimes of violence increased by 5 percent.

• Drug arrests jumped by 35 percent.

• Officers arrested 35 percent more people on drunken driving charges.

• Officers wrote 45 percent more parking tickets.

• Officers wrote nearly 54 percent more traffic tickets.

But like Luken, Streicher said there's more work to do. And he said the biggest detriment to fighting crime in Cincinnati is that many people won't get involved and help police.

"Until more people are willing to step up, we're limited in what we can do," Streicher said. "Criminals can sense a willingness upon the part of people to tolerate crime, and that's where they're going to go. And the more power and the more control people in the neighborhoods take, the more we're going to be able to help them."

People like Mel Williams, who runs the CVS Pharmacy on McMillan Street in Walnut Hills, take that to heart. He said he doesn't tolerate illegal activity around his store.

"I'm not a bad guy or a tough person, but my first word to them is that my business and their business cannot operate in the same place," he said. "I tell them: 'I'm paying rent here and you're not.' "

In February, his neighborhood will host one in a series of Councilman David Pepper's community meetings to talk about crime. Walnut Hills Community Council President Kathy Atkinson expects as many as 100 people to attend because crime is an important topic for residents.

Surveillance cameras put up last March, she said, have helped curb loitering in the business district. And while she's glad for that, she's also concerned about pushing crime into other neighborhoods.

"If we were able to move all the characters off the street that are causing us concern, they are just going to move to someplace else," Atkinson said.

"Moving them out of the neighborhood is not solving the problem for our city."

District 1 results

Pepper highlighted the numbers in District 1, where statistics for the majority of serious crimes declined, with the exception of theft. The district includes the neighborhoods of Over-the-Rhine and the West End, which were the two most common places for homicides in 2003.

District 1 Capt. James Whalen attributed that 5 percent increase in theft to a wave of thefts from cars around downtown and the Over-the-Rhine bar district.

Whalen said he has increased his contacts with community members to alert them to crime trends and issues.

Pepper said the numbers showed "you can rally a whole area to get more proactive and work together."

Still, he said, "I appreciate that the numbers look good, but we still have some neighborhoods that feel absolutely overwhelmed."

Streicher, Luken and City Manager Valerie Lemmie are working on a crime-fighting plan, which they said they hope also will make a dent in the escalating homicides.

Streicher said some of the plan will increase what police officers already do, including increasing the Community Response Team crime sweeps from once to twice a month. As many as 100 officers are pulled together and focus on addressing citizen complaints about crime.

Streicher said there are new ideas in the plan as well. Those include having the city get involved with Hamilton County's witness protection program and possibly working with University Hospital trauma doctors on a plan to put officers in the emergency room to take statements from gunshot victims.

E-mail jprendergast@enquirer.com