CINCINNATI — Police made bold moves in Cincinnati's Over-The-Rhine neighborhood Thursday, calling health and building code enforcers to help pressure landlords near crime hotspots to do more.
The push is part of a crime reduction initiative called PIVOT, place-based investigations that team law enforcement officers with property owners and city departments to target known crime problem spots. The area covered by PIVOT in OTR saw 60% fewer shootings so far this year. Violent crime is down 40% too.
CPD officers and city code enforcers huddled on East McMicken Avenue to meet with landlords whose properties have some fresh gang graffiti, liquor bottles on the sidewalk and leftover crime tape wrapped on wrought iron fencing.
"We're here to — I'm not going to say drop the hammer, but we're here to do our job with compliance," building inspector Torrance Lee said.
Historically Cincinnati's hottest spot for shootings, the stretch of McMicken and northeast Over-The-Rhine saw 60% fewer so far in 2022 compared to 2021, according to CPD statistics. Violent crime fell 40% too.
"I think that's fantastic progress," said Capt. Matt Hammer, CPD District 1 Commander. "I think that's not enough."
In January, CPD launched PIVOT in the area. During the summer, volunteers bagged used needles, spent shell casings and other trash left around buildings to discourage crime. Landlords also mounted surveillance cameras and signs warning criminals to move.
The McMicken corridor saw no shootings until October. Police responded to two separate gun crimes in one week. Officers caught one suspect. However, they're concerned.
"We need to continue to stay focused and do everything that we know how to do to make sure that it's not only safe today but that it's safe tomorrow and that really the community will be stable and we won't continue to have recurrences of violence in the future," Hammer said.
CPD officers see drug problems swelling on Race near Green Street too. The area has more drug overdoses than any other spot in the city, Hammer said.
Property owners can expect PIVOT to ask more of them too.
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