Cincinnati recorded a 26-year high in homicides in 2003. Ideas about how to curb the killing have lit up the phone lines on local talk radio, been the topic for sermons and turned into fingerpointing at City Hall.

One voice has been publicly absent: Chief Tom Streicher's. And, he said, that's somewhat by design.

Streicher, City Manager Valerie Lemmie and Mayor Charlie Luken have said they are working on a strategy aimed at reducing homicides. They said they don't want to unveil it until it's fully researched and ready to go.

In an interview with reporter Jane Prendergast, Streicher outlined some details about the plan and answered questions about how his department fights violent crime:

Question: Violent and serious crimes decreased in 2003. Why is it harder to bring about decreases in homicides?

Answer: Typically, homicides occur between people who know each other. Either I'm mad at you or you've ripped me off, or whatever. So in reality, how do you expect society to stop a string of murders that occur inside of a closed culture of drugs and people who don't care whether they wake up tomorrow or not?

That makes it difficult for us.

Q: Some still blame the April 2001 riots for violence. Do you?

A: That's where it started. Certainly, if you graphed it out, that's where it started. But who knows how long it was building? But it's here. And we need to get out there and make sure the criminals committing this activity know they're going to be arrested and they're going to jail.

Q: What do you think about the characterization of crime as "black-on-black''?

A: I think a huge mistake when you're talking about violent crime is classifying it as black-on-black or white-on-white. A gigantic step would be for people of all races, of all genders, to come together and say we're here to have an impact on crime.

Q: Should you reinstate the gang unit, as some city council members have suggested, to reduce crime?

A: The truth of it is, there's not gang involvement here like the Crips and the Bloods. It's more loosely constructed, street corner, neighborhood-based drug dealing.

The gang unit was simply decentralized (and fighting gang crime is now part of each district's violent crime squad). It's a much more comprehensive approach than just having one unit. This way, it's merged with other criminal activity that's being detected.