Cincy Reporter

Cincinnati is hoping that this summer will be safe for residents and visitors alike, as the City Council allocates money for more resources to help fight crime in some of the city’s needed areas.

According to CityBeat, all of the city’s police districts will be able to utilize the $250,000 in funding that will be distributed based on data that identifies what areas could be better served by a deeper police presence. Council members unanimously approved the $250,000 at the April 20 meeting, targeting it for police overtime pay in connection with a summer anti-gun-violence initiative. The money comes from a realignment of federal American Rescue Plan funding from 2021, officials said.

"What we know from history is there are more instances of violence during the summer months," Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, Cincinnati's vice mayor, said during the meeting. "Last year, the request (for similar funding) was $1 million. She (Interim Police Chief Teresa Theetge) assures us that $250,000 is what's needed at this point. Our police have worked really hard to implement a data-driven, community-based plan to combat violent crime."

Interim Chief Theetge told the website that increasing summer hours for police officers was just one portion of a plan that included youth programs and community engagement. The community engagement will be centered on alliances with organizations such as the God Squad, whose clergy members help the police department deescalate potential volatile encounters involving the police.

Cincinnati City Council member Scotty Johnson said the $250,000 will be used to help the understaffed police department and added that the fire department was also understaffed.

“We want to make sure that the police have every tool they need to do what's necessary to continue to assist in Cincinnati being one of the safest big cities in the country,” Johnson said. “It's more than the police. We need the community at the table. We need the community participating. We need the community to be a partner in assisting us this summer so that we get through the summer with numbers trending down versus up as they are now."

The funds will also help the city hire a coordinator for the department’s Crime Gun Intelligence Center, which records and mitigates gun violence in the city. According to CityBeat, 2022 is shaping up to be the biggest gun violence surge in the past five years with 78 shootings recorded in the first three months of the year. Last year, the state recorded 1,762 resident fatalities due to gun violence, which was just two shy of the record set in 2020, according to the website. 

According to CityBeat, "Gun violence (and violence of any kind) is much more prevalent in large cities across the United States during the summer months (between approximately June and August) when people are more likely to be outside and socializing with others."  A 2018 report by The New York Times determined that Chicago shootings were twice as likely to happen in warmer weather. Last summer, a shooting involving two young men at Cincinnati's Smale Park killed two people and injured several. Police beefed up their patrols after that for the summer and hope that 2022 is more peaceful.