CPD captain: 'Not my intention to push crime to Ky.'

"Hopefully, we can push the crime into Kentucky. I don't care if you quote me at this point."

Visibly distraught by the city's recent uptick in violent crime, Cincinnati police Capt. Maris Herold uttered that remark during a Thursday meeting of the Walnut Hills Area Council.

Her remarks met with criticism from officials in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky on Friday.

Criticism was also leveled at Enquirer's reporting, by the area council and the police department.

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said, "We'd never do anything to hurt Kentucky. We're all in this together.

"She made a mistake," Cranley said. "Nobody's perfect. It was clearly the wrong thing to say."

In an email to The Enquirer, Tiffaney Hardy, director of communications for CPD said that Herold's comments were misrepresented.

"It is not my intention to push crime to Kentucky," Herold said at a 2 p.m. Friday news conference to clarify the comment.

"Distraught would not describe me in that meeting, " Herold said. "Outrage would describe the recent events that I'm upset about having to deal with the recent violence and the drug trafficking concerns that were discussed."

Herold said that her main goal from the meeting was an attempt to get the community and the police to work together to solve the rise in drugs and violence in the community.

"What we were talking about specifically were drug trains on quiet streets in Walnut Hills with Kentucky license plate," Herold said. "After long discussion about possible solutions a comment was made that at some point we need to stop the supply end from Kentucky and push that end back into Kentucky."

Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell said, "I wouldn't say our strategy is ever to push crime to another community. We try to help eradicate crime."

Covington Mayor Sherry Carran said she doesn't think Herold's comments reflect that stance of Cincinnati police and administration.

"This captain who made the comment (is) under a lot of stress because of what they're experiencing (and) probably regrets what she said now," Carran said. "I think people make more out of it than what it is."

Herold's comments and Enquirer reporting "are generating important community conversation about public safety in Cincinnati," said interim executive editor Michael McCarter.

Herold's Thursday comment came in the midst of providing a crime update to the neighborhood council's safety committee when she made the controversial comment about moving crime to Kentucky. Among the topics discussed were strategies for combating drug activity, juvenile-involved burglaries and Tuesday's fatal Walnut Hills shooting.

Walnut Hills is also where 17-year-old Kelsie Crow was shot to death after a Sweet 16 party on April 4.

Herold leads District 4, which also encompasses the Mount Auburn intersection where a Metro bus was struck during a daytime shooting at a Shell gas station on busy Reading Road.

Another daytime shooting a week ago rattled neighbors in the CUF neighborhood, also in District 4.

Police said they think the shooter fled on foot with an assault rifle, accompanied by five juveniles wearing red shirts.





"One of the topics that was discussed in the meeting was the emerging mobile drug market, which often include cars with Kentucky Plates," Walnut Hills Area Council President Kathryne Gardette said Friday. "Capt. Herold's comment was a light-hearted comment in regards to this very specific situation. Neither the Walnut Hills community nor CPD have any interest in pushing crime somewhere else. We believe it was clear to everyone that the meeting was about solving problems, not moving them."

Shootings in the city are at a 10-year high, according to a report presented to Cincinnati City Council's Law and Public Safety Committee. As of May 24, 162 people were injured by gunfire.

City Manager Harry Black said that those numbers may not be correct. Despite the numbers, officials are confident in the police force.

"We've got a very solid department," Black said. "We've got hard working smart leadership with police officers serving the city on a daily basis."

But Black also said that he wants to see results.

A specialized gang unit staffed by 20 officers will launch next week. There has not been an active gang unit in Cincinnati for 15 years, Blackwell said.

Crime displacement is a fact of life for law enforcement officials. Cincinnati police discussed occurrences of crime displacement at a May 15 press conference announcing gang-related arrests. Police said they were aware that efforts to combat crime can result in pushing criminals from their established hot spots to other areas.

Herold noted the recent uptick in Cincinnati violence isn't limited to any one area, saying each of the city's five districts have felt the effects of the surge.

"If there is a time for the community to stand up to what is going on, this is the time," she said.

Blackwell said that police have a place-based strategy to combat crime in certain hot spots. Police use crime data to identify a hot spot and then focus officers in that area to deter criminal activity.

"When we come in an area and we bring an all-hands-on-deck approach to a place-based strategy, it makes bad guys uncomfortable and they leave," Blackwell said. "That's the goal."

Police use this strategy in the Central Business District and Over-The-Rhine. Both neighborhoods have seen a decrease in violent crime, Blackwell said.

So far this year, the Central Business District has seen a 25 percent decrease in violent crime compared to 2014, according statistics from Cincinnati police.

Herold, a graduate of Dixie Heights High School in Edgewood, according to information posted on City of Cincinnati's website, was featured in a story published by The Atlantic on Thursday, titled 'How to Fix a Broken Police Department.' The article deals with the changes in policing in Cincinnati after the unrest that followed the 2001 police shooting death of Timothy Thomas, an unarmed, black man.