‘No place for violence’: Cincinnati mayor discusses ‘path forward’ in wake of violent brawl
Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us here today. I’m here with *** group of city, county, and community leaders who have been with us every step of the way in building the kind of Cincinnati that our children and grandchildren can be proud of. As you can see, there are far too many to announce individually. But there are leaders here from law enforcement about the county and the city, including public safety professionals like our firefighters, business leaders, community leaders, faith leaders, elected officials of both the city and the county level, and we’re here together with *** unified message to our city. For the past week, Cincinnati has been dealing with *** serious challenge, *** challenge because of the awful and horrific fight in our downtown last weekend, *** challenge because of both the speculation and legitimate conversations raised because of it at both the local and national level, and *** challenge because of the ongoing work that everyone at this podium and partners throughout our community have been investing our time and resources into. To ensure the safety and vibrancy of every community in Cincinnati. This was an awful incident and our law enforcement has been working quickly and effectively to bring all responsible to justice. Let me be clear, There is no place for violent crime in Cincinnati. Whether it’s *** fight or gun violence, we will pursue those responsible and we will hold them accountable no matter who they are, period. We will spare no expense in the pursuit pursuit of safety and justice. We have the best police department in the country. They do an extraordinarily difficult job and *** dangerous job every single day, and we have their backs. We have their backs with resources and with uniform political support, and our expectation, our commitment is that they enforce our laws. The Cincinnati of today has revitalized our urban core from OTR to the banks into *** community where folks from all around want to come live and work and spend their time. We have brought new residents and growth after decades of population decline. We are an economically, civically, and culturally strong city, and we will never stop doing everything in our power to maintain and grow that strength. We look forward to once again taking your questions about where we are, what we’re focused on, and what we’re doing as we’ve done every step of the way this summer through our biweekly updates and press conferences. But first, I’d like to emphasize an important message that we as *** community are united. We are on the right track, and we have been implementing *** coordinated strategy since taking office that has delivered substantial progress on all of our goals on safety. On economic development and growth, on new housing and jobs and thriving neighborhoods throughout the city. It’s not lost on any of us how much work there is still left to do from City Hall to the county to our business leaders, faith, community and labor leaders, all of us have been laser focused on collaborating to build *** brighter Cincinnati. I want to thank our partners for standing strong and together for what has been *** transformative period in Cincinnati’s history because make no mistake, our communities have more strength, more opportunity, and more momentum right now because of that work. But all of what we’ve accomplished, where we want to go as *** city is only possible when residents are safe and when importantly they feel safe spending time in our public spaces. And while the data shows the progress that we’ve made, it means nothing if the public perception does not match. And currently, too many Cincinnatians don’t feel safe. All of us, especially me, are clear-eyed and working urgently to fix that. We have to make the city safer right now. In Cincinnati, preventing violent crime has been our singular top priority and our budget, our words and our actions all reflect that. I’m proud that under the leadership of city manager Long. And police Chief Fiji and in collaboration with the county, local businesses and community partners, we have not just made sure the resources are there, but that we have listened to and adjusted with the data and experiences that the residents are telling us. And that has of course included strong consistent investment in our law enforcement and our public safety approach as *** whole. And *** clear focus on making adjustments based on what the data and our residents are telling us. Just this summer, as we’ve targeted concerning crime trends, we have implemented and regularly updated residents on new police task forces going after street level crimes, new walking patrols in our urban core to increase visibility, and the rollout of *** new drone program as first responders. However, any violence, any tragedy is inexcusable in our city. It is our responsibility as city leaders. It is my responsibility as your mayor to fix it. There is obviously more work to be done, particularly in our downtown, but our strategies and investments have led to *** significant decrease in citywide crime. And as Chief Teresa Fiji will further discuss in detail, this is *** moment to double down on the investments and strategies that have driven the progress that we’ve seen so far. Before I welcome the city manager to speak, thank you to all our police here in Cincinnati for your exceptional service. And your sacrifice from our CDRT and SWAT teams to the task force patrolling our hot spots to every officer upholding their oath to protect the residents they represent. It is because of you that all of this is possible, and thank you to all our partners here locally and beyond for helping us in this critical work. As we’ve announced, Governor DeWine has not hesitated to come to the table in support of our Cincinnati efforts with public safety resources to strengthen our local law enforcement approach. That is the kind of public service based in real action and collaboration that makes every community here and throughout Ohio *** better place. Governor Dewine is *** good man with *** proven track record of putting communities over partisan politics, and I’m grateful for his collaboration and partnership. I’ll end with this. Cincinnati is *** special place. We are *** proudly diverse city with *** large and vibrant black community that is rich in tradition and in history. The racial dynamics of this fight. are unavoidable, and some have cynically used the opportunity to try and divide us along racial lines. That is *** choice we must firmly reject. But rising to challenges like this, to create something even brighter is nothing new for Cincinnati. This is the city that served as the gateway to freedom on the Underground Railroad. This is the city where out of tragedy, we built *** community-driven national model for problem solving oriented policing in the collaborative agreement. We have the scars to show the hard work that it has taken to get us to this point and our community is stronger because of how we have responded together. Now is not the time to turn away from each other. But to reach toward our shared humanity irrespective of race and creed. That is the story of Cincinnati’s past. It is the strength of our present, and I’m confident it will lead us into the future. We will continue to come together to work toward creating more shared prosperity and to build more momentum as *** united front. That momentum is not going anywhere, and neither am I. Thank you, and I welcome City Manager Cheryl Long. Thank you, Mayor. Cincinnati is *** city of unity. The evidence is standing here with us today. The people who lead our communities, build our future and connect us to the world. If you live here You see why people want to call Cincinnati home. You see it in our riverfront, our entertainment, our culture, our neighborhoods, and you feel it in our people who are passionate, creative, and full of life. If you live here, you know the character of our city. We rely on each other, support each other, and lift each other up and refuse to let hate define us. We live beautiful and rich lives. Yes, tensions are high right now. But if you live here, you know, we will get through this period and come out stronger together. If you live here or if you visited here, you know that. Everyone standing here knows that. Everyone behind the cameras today knows that. The only people who don’t know that are people who don’t know Cincinnati. My staff, which is more than 6000 dedicated public servants, are working around the clock to deliver services, protect our communities, and build our future. I stand here today on behalf of all of them. There is no excuse for these folks who come to work for the benefit of everyone to receive abusive, hateful, harassing, and bigoted language. Which unfortunately has been happening all week long. It needs to stop. As always, I’m proud to stand here with the police chief Teresa Fiji and commend the entire department on the work they do. For this incident specifically and around the clock, day in and day out. As city manager, it’s my responsibility to amplify what they’ve told me. They need your help. If you see something suspicious, or if you’re in *** dangerous situation, call 911. When your phone comes out, don’t open Instagram live. Call the police. Keep your firearms at home and lock them up securely. We are one city. One region, we rely on each other. Our strength is our togetherness and our future depends on it. If you live here or if you visited here. This is not *** surprise. You know that. Thank you. Hi, everybody. Long time no see, huh? All right. Fellow Cincinnatians. I stand firmly behind my initial statement. What we all witnessed in the viral video released early Saturday morning. It was not only disturbing, it was outright cruel. It was an act of violence that shook us all. Let me be clear, every single person who played *** role in that attack will be held accountable. Trust me when I say this. The Cincinnati Police Department, had the Cincinnati Police Department been notified in real time, our officers would have responded with urgency and force to protect life. We rely on the eyes and voices of our community. Because silence and moments like this can be dangerous. As of today, our investigative teams have identified 6 victims, 5 males, 1 female. Each subjected to unimaginable physical violence. Our thoughts are with them as they begin to heal from this traumatic event. Knowing their lives have been forever changed. Through relentless work, CPD has now charged 6 individuals with felonious assault and aggravated rioting. Of those 3 have been arrested and their names have been released to the public. Our fugitive apprehension unit is actively pursuing the remaining 3. Whose names will be released upon capture. This remains an open investigation. And I want to assure you we will not stop until justice is fully served. But this incident is more than an isolated tragedy. It points to *** broader challenge. *** revolving door of justice. As I stand here today as the police chief. People can take punches at me all day long. That’s fine. That’s fine. I’ll take them. Our officers risked their life daily to remove violent offenders from the streets. Only to see them released quickly and sometimes without consequences. This cycle must end. We cannot and should not ask our officers to bear this burden alone. The criminal justice system must work in full cooperation with all entities doing their part to ensure lasting safety for our community. Despite these challenges, the men and women of the Cincinnati Police Department show up every day giving 100%. From innovative violence reduction strategies to day to day problem solving efforts, we do it because we care deeply about this city and everyone who calls it home. To our citizens, we need you. We need your eyes, your voice. And your trust. I’m confident that if we all work together, we can create *** safer and stronger Cincinnati. I want to add one bit of information for you that I received today. Yesterday, *** member of the executive board for the Hamilton County Chiefs Association reached out to me very kindly to check on my well-being, and I’m grateful for that. During that conversation, I made *** request. For the organization, the Hamilton County Police Chiefs Association, to form *** committee. To work on this ecosystem of our justice system here in the county. You know, it used to be I’d wake up in the morning, see the news. Find out we had *** shooting in Cincinnati. Now it’s, it’s also troubling that I wake up and I see that there are shootings in some of our suburb areas as well. So this revolving justice system affects the entire county. And so our organization. We’ll be forming *** committee, and we will ask prosecutors, common police judges, municipal court judges. Juvenile court judges to join us to find out how can we collectively work for *** safer Cincinnati and for *** safer Hamilton County. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Proerval and everybody gathered here in support of our great city. I’m Sheriff Charmaine McGuffy, and as sheriff for this county, I remain deeply committed to protecting public safety, upholding justice, not just through enforcement, but through intentional strong partnerships with strategic vision. And you know, this is about aligning the right services for intervention with our outreach professionals, with treatment providers, and with law enforcement. Civic leaders will also help us, and we’re committed to working as one system, the criminal justice system. So that we can bring some solutions and law and order to Hamilton County and the city of Cincinnati. I’m proud to continue *** strong partnership with the city. And I know that these lasting solutions that we will work towards and find are going to bring in agencies from across this region. They’re going to bring in police departments, communities, and we are going to ensure safety and law and order. Every resident who works or lives in this city. will feel the impact of that because they will understand that we have created *** safer environment in this city and county. This working relationship will be led with integrity, compassion, effectiveness, and transparency. As your sheriff, I’m all in for the county. I’m all in for the city and for the criminal justice system that we must utilize and strengthen our partnerships and bring real solutions and solutions that include law and order to this city and this county. Thank you very much. Finally, we will have *** faith leader, Pastor Dan Lynch. Thank you, Mayor and to all of us gathered to the chief, the sheriff, the council members. Um, I agree and I’m excited to stand with the mayor and others saying that safety has to be the number one priority in our city. Across our city, every social demographic wants to live in *** safe city. And in saying that, let me address briefly the racializing and politicizing of this event that happened this past weekend. We would not be here and this will not be national news. This will not be national news. This was *** group of black people that jumped on other black people. It would not be national news if it happened in Montgomery Inn and somebody beat down two elderly white people, but obviously it’s national news because it’s been racialized. So let’s, let’s walk back. For those who want to racialize this, it was *** fight that took place. It was *** black man and *** white man one on one. They were, they were facing each other and no punches were thrown. *** kick was uh tried that didn’t land. For those who want to racialize it, then *** black man stepped in between the combatants, separated them and said this is enough, stop fighting, everybody needs to chill. And then for those who want racialize it, the white man then steps back in the ring and slaps, not the black man that he had just squared up with, but slaps another black man. So after that, he was met with disproportionate force. For those who want to politicize it, uh, the JD Vance’s and the Vivek Ramaswamys and uh the Bernie Marrinos and the Christopher Smithermans and and many others who want to politicize it. They have not yet said something that I always hear when *** black person runs from the police and uh then is met with disproportionate force, sometimes ending their life. What we hear is, well, why did they run? why didn’t they just comply? We hear that every time, but I’ve yet to hear anybody say, why didn’t he just walk away. So let me back up so you understand this. 2 combatants, one black, one white, *** black man steps in, breaks it up. The white guy re-engages, slaps, not the black man that he had just squared up with, but slaps another black man. And nobody’s asking, why didn’t he just walk away. And so when I see, and I don’t know who else the chief is is looking for, or CPD is looking for, but when I see the mug shots, I only see people who look like me. I don’t see the person who re-engaged, slapped not the initial person but slapped another black man. So I don’t see the slappers’ uh, mugshot. And so sadly, I have to agree with those who are politicizing this and racializing this. I have to agree with the Smithermans, the Ramaswamys, uh, the Merinos, uh, Corey Bowman. This is racial because it is unequal justice and so until we see all the mug shots, this is still *** racial issue. So let me say again to those in Cincinnati, it’s Friday night, and we know people like to go out on Friday night. Here’s what I would ask. Because of what happened this past weekend, we don’t want to see it happen again. Drink responsibly. Take care of one another and everybody get home safe. God bless you. Thank you, Pastor. I’m truly grateful for the outpouring um from every sector of our city here today and over this past week. It has been *** challenging time. But we are, have been and will continue to respond innovatively with urgency. Because it cannot be lost that violent crime has no place in our city, period. To that end, in partnership with the governor, uh, the police chief will be uh deploying state highway patrol on our highways inside of our city. I want to be very clear that CPD will still be exclusively responding to calls for service that the highway patrol will be used specifically on the highways, and that will free up significant CPD resources in order to deploy police officers in our urban core. Our priority right now is public safety and police visibility. In addition to that, uh, the chief will be directing CDRT and SWAT, who have been deployed every single weekend through the year, uh, in our urban core, starting at the banks. They will now expand the footprint of CDRT and SWATT to include 4th Street. We’re also announcing *** new bike patrol that will monitor the Fountain district in order to increase our visibility, and we’re actively engaged with the sheriff on collaborating on the Court Street area. We are by no means finished. We have more work to do. We are meeting this moment with urgency. But we are also meeting this moment with *** shared and deep understanding of Cincinnati’s history, of the progress that we’ve made to get us here. And an undenying, undeniable vision that our best days are ahead of us. With that, we’ll take your questions. How many officers did you guys have in the central business district at the time this assault happened, Chief? We had 11 and we narrowed that window down because I knew this question would come. So from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., specifically, we had 11 officers working and that is Not counting off duty details that may have been in the area that’s in the central business district. How come there weren’t more officers? I know you even said it, but you wouldn’t want your family to be downtown when the bars closed. The bars closed, they don’t let out till 3 o’clock in the morning. How come there weren’t more officers and so many officers, I guess, were let go at 2 o’clock that morning. So this is *** weekend that we’ve had for many years, music festival, Reds games, whatever’s going on. This is not new territory for us to, as far as policing. We work with the schedule that we think is best for the events that are occurring. Normally come 2 a.m. on this weekend, things start to calm down for us. We still had 11 officers working. To us, that is *** sufficient number of officers to have in the central business section for this weekend. Arguably, this would not have, this incident would not have occurred had there not been *** large group of people gathered outside the Love on 4th bar. There have been 84 incidents since that bar opened. And at that location, 84 incidents that police have been called at that location since it opened. Why not have police at that location if you’re getting called there every weekend anyway. Because the geographical area of the central business section is more than just that corner, and we owe it to the entire community down there to cover as much geographical area as we can with the resources that we have. So, yes, we know we’ve had calls for service there. That’s why we have our vice unit. That’s why we have neighborhood liaison units from CBS who pay attention to what’s going on there, but to take all of my resources and put them on one corner. For one problematic bar or potentially problematic bar would be irresponsible to the rest of the central business section. This is *** place that I’ll I’ll take your question as well. I, I’d like to look at the, the complaint data because what I do know is that there was *** very problematic uh bar across the street, uh, where we were getting significant calls for service, and this team worked collaboratively and effectively to shut that place down. Um, what I can say is all public nuisance concerns go through the city solicitor’s office, uh, and that we take all complaints very seriously, uh, and investigate them and we’ll hold them accountable if necessary. *** couple more questions for you first, uh, I’ve been on this all week and the first time at *** press conference, at least we’ve heard any type of narrative about what happened here was from Pastor Lynch. Why is this the first time we’re hearing *** start to end narrative, and do you agree that that’s what happened? So the reason we city leaders have been very specific in talking about the facts is because the investigation is still ongoing. I agree with Pastor Lynch that there is no doubt that this public safety challenge, that this incident will require further investigation, further charges, and further arrests for every single person involved. The investigation is ongoing and I expect that we will have more charges and more arrests as the investigation proceeds. And on the note on the note of state aid here, uh, one of the things that was offered was additional resources for post release control. Um, when we reached out to Pi yesterday, she indicated that they’re working on evaluating how could that be. Implemented before accepting it, but we’ve had two people charged with murder this summer alone after cutting off their ankle bracelets. Why is this not something that we’re ready to accept now? We are happy for the state to do their job, which is to track down these parolees who are cutting off their ankle monitors. We encourage and ask that they do that. Um, what the chief is communicating to you is that, uh, if that enforcement is stepped up, which would be welcome because as you have indicated, there’s been incidents where these folks haven’t been picked up by state authorities, uh, we’re just asking for that collaboration. If this is *** problem area, how come there’s no city cameras or no working city cameras that picked up the incident, or do you rely on the three species? Yeah, so we have *** very robust SEE um program where we work to harden locations including uh videos. Uh, we collaborate extensively with private businesses. Actually, I’ll I’ll ask the chief to talk through that, uh, in order to rely not just on city cameras but on private cameras as well. And not just in businesses but also at homes and we are we are actively trying to increase that presence. I do understand that it is, um, you know, obviously people have seen what happened and I think the public has *** right to see how this unfolded from the start to the end. Will this footage be made available to the public? Yeah, I’ll ask the chief to respond. I don’t get it. Don’t get it. Yes, Karen. So, um, to your point about cameras and additional information, uh, Reverend Lynch explained what he saw when he saw the footage, which is the footage that has uh been extensively viewed by public. Probably early next week, probably early next week, I will be releasing additional footage, including body worn camera. Uh, that tells *** little bit more of the story, but right now I need to let the investigators continue to do their job. If I release too much too soon, even though there’s *** very strong appetite for it, I jeopardize the integrity of the investigation, and that would not be good for anybody involved. Mayor, you said that you’ve already shut down another bar in that area. Um, 84 complaints to that particular address, uh, two liquor violations at the state. What does it take to get some corrective action? Takes the city solicitor city solicitor’s office doing their investigation on the complaints, which is absolutely ongoing and as that investigation proceeds and we actually have the facts about whether the complaints are justified and backed up by evidence, then we will of course. Take corrective action, but at this point, um, it’s too soon to comment on that. 1 2nd, 1 2nd, Becca, go ahead, then you’ll be next. Chief, can you talk more about this revolving door committee you mentioned? Who will appoint the members? When will they start meeting, and are you asking for any action to happen before those committees recommendations are out? Yeah, so it’s *** very new idea, *** new concept. I will be working with the executive board of the Hamilton County Police Chiefs Association to determine exactly that who will be on the committee. We will reach out to the entities that I mentioned, see who they would like to represent them at the table, um so that we can move this topic forward. Chief DG, this is an ongoing investigation obviously there’s *** lot of outside conversation outside of Cincinnati. Can you People that you say could possibly be charged like they from this area? Are they local or are you using other cities as resources to help get those people, uh, captured? Yeah, so right now, um, I’m not gonna reveal that because like I said, our fugitive apprehension unit is looking our investigators are still working and again I do not want to tip our hat to anything too soon. Yes sir, uh, Chief, yeah, I know, um, one question. The street crime task force, I mean, are they going to be assigned later. With all this like past 3 a.m. or what does it look like with that? Yeah, so the street crimes task force, their hours fluctuate, and that’s by design. I cannot stand here and reveal to you where all of our resources are going to be, what day of the week, what time of the day, because if I stand here and tell you, hey, the street Crimes Task Force gonna be out Saturday till 2 a.m. Somebody who’s thinking about committing *** crime is like, well, OK, I’ll go out at 2:30 a.m. so I’m not gonna reveal that’s *** tactical strategy of ours that needs to be kept, uh, very, very close to us. Sheriff, I have *** question for you if you don’t mind. Uh, we’re, uh, excuse me, sir, I’d ask you to, uh, to talk to the sheriff after the press conference, um, we’re focused on city officials for Q&A, but I’m happy to take any question that you have. I mean this mostly pertains to her and you, you had her speak, so I, I assume that that would be fair game, but sure, uh, you talked about significant decrease uh in citywide crime, uh, what numbers do you have to support that, uh, where, where are the statistics on that and what specific types of crimes are we talking violent crimes, heartbreakings, where, where are we at? Yeah, yeah, violent crime. We do *** biweekly update and press conference on the recent crime stats. We’ve been doing that for the last month, if not more, and what, what we have shown is our, our violent crime is down, but there’s *** concerning increase in burglaries and breaking and enterings and shootings in some specific areas, which is why. We responded forcefully with *** street crimes task force that is using the data about where these hotspot areas are to increase our enforcement and our police visibility. That’s why we’re using drones as first responders, particularly in these areas, in order to drive those numbers down. And we’ve talked *** lot about our police response, but it’s why we have problem solving initiatives, particularly at Smail Park and other. Spot areas in order to not just rely on police but take *** comprehensive view and try to reduce the crime. I’ll tell you one other question that I had, uh, you know, you talked about often violent offenders are released quickly without consequence that we choose the one that said that. Um, do we have *** jail system in this county that can support longer jail stays for violent offenders given the volume that we have within the city. So *** Facebook post from council member of Virginia or Victoria Park, excuse me, went viral, uh, earlier this week. It said, uh, the code is the victims begged for that beat down. Um, there have been some calls online for her resignation and from *** couple of local officials. I’m wondering if you have *** comment on that. Yeah, I, I’ve commented on this already. Um, I profoundly disagree with, uh, council member Victoria Parks. No one deserves to be *** victim of violent crime ever, and we are working very hard to make sure that that fight like that doesn’t happen again in our city. She hasn’t asked *** question, folks, go ahead. Well, the man that Lynch was talking about slap. On some of the cameras on social media. We are actively investigating him. We take all violence very seriously. Uh, as I mentioned, I expect more charges and more arrests, but do you, do you still have confidence in the police chief. Uh this is earlier this week you did recommend the media *** bit about the release of the video. *** lot of times our hands are tied as far as what we can show. Why hasn’t the other part of the video been released by CPP. Because it’s an ongoing investigation, I met with the investigators this morning. They are very, very good at their job. I need to respect their wishes as they continue this investigation, and at that time their wishes were we need to hold back this video. We’re still investigating. Yes ma’am. As you’re talking about the revolving justice system, was the prosecutor invited today or anybody from her office here to talk to? Uh yes, the prosecutor, um, is, uh, with her son who’s getting married. Mayor, this is obviously inflamed preexisting racial tensions here in the greater Cincinnati area, and those tensions will still exist once this story uh dies down and goes away. How do you address the underlying racial tensions in this area in the long term? Well, it’s, it’s overt racial tensions that have been flamed by irresponsible leaders um who have unfortunately cynically tried to take advantage of this awful fight and try to divide us. Cincinnati has *** long history of being um on the on the very front foot of racial justice as I talked about where the city of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Beecher Stow, the collaborative agreement which is the national model for problem solving uh policing, and, and there’s no doubt that cities our size that are so diverse, uh, we are essentially *** 50% black and 50% white city. That there’s no doubt that these, that these racial, if I could, if I could finish your, your question, um, there’s no doubt that any city our size of that diverse of *** population. Has to work intentionally about uh racial justice, about racial healing, uh, and that is exactly what our mission is to do, which is why we’re bringing together such *** diverse group of community leaders today. Which is why, uh, I’m gonna speak very frankly about the folks who are trying to divide us along racial lines, uh, and which is why we are very proud of our city and that will continue to be central to our strength. Council member Johnson, thank you. Um, you know, you asked the question and you’re part of the media. We’ve had over 38 homicides in this city. And I have not seen *** loop. Even close to those 38 homicides to what the media. Has continuously showed. Day in and day out. So when you continuously run *** loop. Where you have national leaders that are speaking irresponsible. Showing Black and white people trying to knock each other’s heads off. What role do you play in media, in continually showing That level of violence. What role do you play? In quoting and quoting misdirected national leaders talking about *** city that is on the right track, but they’re doing everything they can to try to take us off the track. What role do you play media in that? And you, what you’ll say, and let me finish, what you’ll say is you’re just reporting the news. But I’ll say to you, when you continuously show *** loop. And you continuously report misguided, misdirected national leaders. Trying to slam our city. You have to ask your question. You ain’t got to ask yourself what role are you playing? We, but we, we all know. We all know That it’s *** lot easier to to divide, particularly along racial lines in *** city our size that is as diverse as we are. We have seen it throughout the history of Cincinnati. And every time we’ve been faced with this kind of racial challenge, the way forward that has been shown time and time again is to have honest conversations. To bring people together and to collaboratively work on *** brighter, more equitable, and more just city. That is the challenge in front of the city leaders today. And it is my hope and my vision. To learn from our history. To bring us together To be clear eyed about what is in the best interest of our city and what is not in the best interests of our city is to blame. And to use racial. Ideology to prevent us from coming together. That is not the Cincinnati of our past or today, and in order for us to confront this challenge again. I’m asking for all of us to reach towards each other’s shared humanity and work together and collaboratively with me to fix them. Go ahead. I know there’s been *** lot of talk about different type of patrols and what we’re doing, so for someone like myself who lives in the downtown area and what can people who are going out to eat or just going out to any of the activities this week, what should they expect when they are downtown safety wise, um, because I know there’s so many different patrols, so can you just kind of clarify what they might see and how they know they could be. What they’re gonna see is the city’s prioritization of visibility. They’re going to see police officers on foot. They’re going to see police officers on bike patrols. They’re gonna see police officers in squad cars. They’re gonna see police officers on Segways and on um Segways that have 3 wheels, uh, we are prioritizing visibility in our urban core in order to not just maintain safety but also to make sure that people feel safe when they’re going out. Yes, go ahead you talk talked about the state and the governor offering assistance. Governor talked about you not accepting all of that assistance. So you talk about maybe why you pick and picked and choose certain things to accept. Yeah, when the governor called me and we started collaborating on *** partnership, I made it clear to him that what we need most is police visibility, and that’s why highway patrol, doing what they’re already currently charged to do, which is patrol our highways, freeze up our CPD officers to drive more visibility into the urban core. As I mentioned earlier, we need the state to be more active in enforcing parole. Folks on parole who are cutting their ankle monitors and we welcome that. The other interventions offered by the governor weren’t necessarily congruent with the challenges that we’re facing and weren’t necessarily needed at this time, but of course the governor is *** trusted partner, as I mentioned, he’s *** solid leader for our state, and I welcome and will hope to continue collaborating with him in the future. Can you tell us what those measures were that you didn’t accept? I, I don’t have them. I don’t have the full list in front. I ask about the victims here. I know everyone knows who Polly is by now. Uh, Chief, you said there are 5 other victims. Has anyone here had *** conversation with the victims, reached out, and how are they doing? So I personally have not spoken with the victims. Their first interaction was with *** beat officer the night of the incident, and they have had continual conversations with my investigators as representatives of CBD. Any other questions? I have not. Uh, I mean, look again, this was *** fight. It was *** horrific fight, um, but as council member and others have said, we have significant other public safety challenges. Um, we have children who are far too often the victims of gun violence. We have oftentimes far too often the perpetrators of gun violence being children. Um, we have violent crime like every other major city across the nation, um, that requires our attention and our bandwidth, uh, and so I, I don’t, uh, traditionally meet or speak to every victim of violent crime in our city, and that’s consistent with my approach today. Other questions? I just want to give the opportunity to answer the question I asked you earlier. Will that man who made the slack, uh, that Pastor Lynch was talking about faces. So We were contacted just yesterday um asking the investigators to go to the Justice Center, speak with him. He is represented by counsel. The investigators are aware of that. They spoke to his counsel before they went down to see him, and the counsel said no. They did. He did not want the police talking to his client, so therefore we have not had *** conversation with him yet. Um, I want to go back to the question though real quick about the uh state resources. So the state patrol patrolling the highways is nothing new. We do it with them all the time. They they come in and join us when we do our traffic blitzes. The aviation, nothing new. They’ve been working with the street crimes task force for *** couple of weeks now. Nothing new. The parole, uh, absolutely, as the mayor said, I would love for them to come into our city and look for their violators, absolutely. What we didn’t discuss though is if they would do that solely on their own or if there would be an integration with CPD and if there’s *** *** wish for an integration with CPD then we have to talk about what that looks like as *** police. Chief, I would never just want to open the door for any other law enforcement agency to come into our city without making sure they’re going to police like we police and that we are in agreement on the mission and the goal and how to get there. They also offered up the Ohio investigative unit. We work our vice unit works with them all the time, so that’s nothing new. They offered up some data analytics. I have an extremely talented crime analysis unit that do all the data that I need. So that was one that we said thank you, but right now we don’t need that. And if there’s anything else that he would like to offer up, if the need is there, I am happy to collaborate with the state. How long will the uh one second. I think, I think what I want to reiterate about what the chief just said, uh, is that Our CPD, our police officers. They are well funded, well trained, and they really are the best in the country. They have the resources, the talent, and the support in order to effectively police this city. I’m grateful for the governor’s partnership in the very specific way that we are working together. And if that changes, we will continue that conversation with the governor, but at this point I have full confidence in the men and women in our police department to do their job, full confidence. We’re going to take *** look at it week to week. We expect it to be *** short term intervention. We’ll take two more questions. You talked about the data. Uh, the, the district I’ve spoken to some of those analysts, but we hear *** lot of skepticism and, and people accusing city officials of lying about the data or intentionally misleading people about the data. You know, what assurance can you give people about why they might be confused about different numbers or or what different numbers might mean? I think one of you asked me this question once before and again I am completely confident in our crime analysis and problem solving unit CAS for short, and their ability to pull the data. They know how to read the data and how to compare it to time frames. Not only are they really good at that, they are really good at suggesting operationally what that means to the department and how we should read the data interpret it so that we can move forward with some of our strategies. I have 100% confidence in the data that comes out of our CAPS unit. One more uh when it comes to this committee, will judges be *** part of it? I know as judges they’re the ones who are often set bail and being in room ***, all those different rooms we’re seeing some of the things we’re talking about. Are you going to try to have them be part of this committee? Yeah, absolutely. So like I said, this really just came to fruition *** couple of hours ago, um, but the idea when I was talking to the executive board member was absolutely to include municipal judges, common pleas judges, juvenile judges. Yeah, and, and as we, as we continue to collaborate on strengthening our justice system, uh, the judges have been at the table, uh, with the chief, with the city manager and myself to make sure that we’re working collaboratively. Thank you all so much.
‘No place for violence’: Cincinnati mayor discusses ‘path forward’ in wake of violent brawl
Updated: 4:42 PM EDT Aug 1, 2025
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval and over a dozen city leaders held a press conference on Friday to discuss the “path forward” in the wake of the violent brawl downtown that has sparked national attention. “There is no place for violence in Cincinnati,” Pureval started out the presser saying.He went on to condemn the violence that took place, saying they will “spare no expense” to bring violent offenders to justice.Pureval recognized the safety concerns among residents.”Too many Cincinnatians dont feel safe. All of us, especially me, are clear eyed and are working to fix that,” Pureval said.He acknowledged there is “obviously more work to be done, particularly downtown.”Pureval said working with Gov. Mike DeWine, they will start deploying highway patrol on highways in the city, to free up “significant resources in order to deploy officers in our urban core.””Our priority right now is public safety and police visibility,” Pureval said.The new initiatives come after recent violence downtown that has sparked national attention.In addition to that, the mayor said they will also be expanding the footprint of their SWAT units to include 4th street.A new bike patrol will also be deployed to monitor the Fountain District to increase visibility and will “actively engage with the sheriff on the Court Street Area.””Cincinnati is a special place. We are a proudly diverse city with a large and vibrant black community, rich in tradition and history. Some have used the opportunity to divide us on racial lines,” Pureval said, saying rising to new challenges are what make the city better.Cincinnati Police Chief Terri Theetge gave an update Friday, saying she stands behind her initial statement, that the viral video was “not only disturbing, but outright cruel.””It was an act of violence that shook us all. Every single person who played a role in that attack will be held accountable,” Theetge said.In her update, Theetge said there were six victims in the brawl, five male and one female.Police have now charged six people with felonious assault and aggravated rioting. Three of those have been arrested and they are working with the fugitive apprehension unit to pursue the remaining three. Theetge said the names of the remaining three charged will be released upon capture.”We will not stop until justice is fully served,” Theetge said.She also said she’s working to form a committee to work on the ecosystem of justice system in Hamilton County which will include judges and law enforcement agencies to work toward a “safer cincinnati and county.”Pastor Damon Lynch also spoke during the presser, saying safety has to be ultimate priority.Lynch condemned the political narratives created from the incident, saying it would not be the case if the parties were of the same race.He ended his statement by saying as another weekend begins he advises everyone to “drink responsibly, take care of one another and get home safe.”
CINCINNATI —
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval and over a dozen city leaders held a press conference on Friday to discuss the “path forward” in the wake of the violent brawl downtown that has sparked national attention.
“There is no place for violence in Cincinnati,” Pureval started out the presser saying.
He went on to condemn the violence that took place, saying they will “spare no expense” to bring violent offenders to justice.
Pureval recognized the safety concerns among residents.
“Too many Cincinnatians dont feel safe. All of us, especially me, are clear eyed and are working to fix that,” Pureval said.
He acknowledged there is “obviously more work to be done, particularly downtown.”
Pureval said working with Gov. Mike DeWine, they will start deploying highway patrol on highways in the city, to free up “significant resources in order to deploy officers in our urban core.”
“Our priority right now is public safety and police visibility,” Pureval said.
The new initiatives come after recent violence downtown that has sparked national attention.
In addition to that, the mayor said they will also be expanding the footprint of their SWAT units to include 4th street.
A new bike patrol will also be deployed to monitor the Fountain District to increase visibility and will “actively engage with the sheriff on the Court Street Area.”
“Cincinnati is a special place. We are a proudly diverse city with a large and vibrant black community, rich in tradition and history. Some have used the opportunity to divide us on racial lines,” Pureval said, saying rising to new challenges are what make the city better.
Cincinnati Police Chief Terri Theetge gave an update Friday, saying she stands behind her initial statement, that the viral video was “not only disturbing, but outright cruel.”
“It was an act of violence that shook us all. Every single person who played a role in that attack will be held accountable,” Theetge said.
In her update, Theetge said there were six victims in the brawl, five male and one female.
Police have now charged six people with felonious assault and aggravated rioting. Three of those have been arrested and they are working with the fugitive apprehension unit to pursue the remaining three. Theetge said the names of the remaining three charged will be released upon capture.
“We will not stop until justice is fully served,” Theetge said.
She also said she’s working to form a committee to work on the ecosystem of justice system in Hamilton County which will include judges and law enforcement agencies to work toward a “safer cincinnati and county.”
Pastor Damon Lynch also spoke during the presser, saying safety has to be ultimate priority.
Lynch condemned the political narratives created from the incident, saying it would not be the case if the parties were of the same race.
He ended his statement by saying as another weekend begins he advises everyone to “drink responsibly, take care of one another and get home safe.”