By Jane Prendergast
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Victor Caprino of Westwood (from left), Emilie Johnson of Clifton Heights and Tracy Schwetschenau of Clifton Heights walk their beat on Vine Street for the first night of the downtown Citizens on Patrol unit Friday. It is the 22nd such unit in the city, with more on the way. The Cincinnati Enquirer/JEFF SWINGER

DOWNTOWN - Cincinnati's newest Citizens on Patrol started Friday night in everybody's neighborhood - downtown.

The group of about 20 started just before sundown, walking a nine-block area around Fountain Square and the Aronoff Center for the Arts. They carried police radios, ready to tell officers of any problems they saw.

"I just hate to see downtown lose its oomph," said Victor Caprino, the 69-year-old retired plumber from Westwood who will help run the new unit. "Maybe enough of us can make it feel a little safer, and people will start hanging out more."

Capt. James Whalen, commander of District 1, shares that hope. The top crime problem in the central business district is theft. Having groups of people - in patrol uniforms - posted near parking garages and other high-theft areas might send would-be thieves elsewhere.

"Can we have police officers stand on every corner? No," Whalen said Friday night. "But I can use these folks that way. That's the help."

They also can be a "symbol of order," he said, in a place where problems of disorder, such as panhandling, are big complaints.

The idea of a downtown Citizens on Patrol started last summer with some graduates of the citizens police academy.

"They came to us with this," said Officer Eric Franz, citizens patrol coordinator. "They might not live downtown. Some of them don't even live in the city. But this is their downtown, too."

The downtown citizens patrol group becomes the 22nd in the city. Next: Lower Price Hill this summer, Franz said, and Evanston in the fall.

Ron Grote, a member of the volunteer patrol in Mount Washington, came downtown Friday night to help.

"We're working on quality-of-life issues," he said. "And we're giving back to the community."

E-mail jprendergast@enquirer.com