CINCINNATI -- Police were making their presence known in Over-the-Rhine Thursday, engaging with members of the community after recent violence in the neighborhood.
District 1 officers had their 1:30 p.m. roll call in Grant Park, not far from the scenes of several deadly shootings just days ago. It's part of the department's effort to get out, engage people and listen to their concerns.
"We want them to know the officers are here 24-7," Sgt. Hank Ward said.
Police also announced Thursday that they arrested another suspect in one of those recent shootings. Christopher McCoy, 27, is facing a charge of murder in the shooting death of Sherrard Dunlap.
The Washington Post reported this week that Cincinnati does have an above-average arrest rate for homicide cases, at least compared among 50 major U.S. cities. Between 2007 and 2017, police made arrests in 56 percent of homicides in Cincinnati, compared to just 49 percent of homicide cases the newspaper examined across the country.
Police said they're doing better than averagethanks to their Homicide Unit, community support and Crime Stoppers.
Community outreach advocate Dorron Hunter said he wants to see young people to grow up and feel safe in their community.
"We want to build relationships between the community, the police, the advocates," Hunter said. "We just want to bring everybody together and try to stop some of this madness we're looking at on our streets today."
With the recent shootings, police are trying to get ahead of the violence by having a conversation with the community.
"It's just more of a community collaboration, and we'll be out throughout the summer," Capt. Lisa Davis said.
