STRAIGHT FROM 5-0

REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY: FROM THE CINCINNATI POLICE DEPARTMENT

This "Report to the Community" Fall 2005 edition came straight from the annual report put out by The Cincinati Police department (CPD) to the "community" to let "us" know what's up in the department. These reports can usually be found in your local Sunday Cincinnati Enquirier on an annual basis, at local outlets on free newsstands in grocery stores around town or by contacting one of The Cincinnati Police departments 5 districts and requesting one .
I wanted to share an updated report on "The Collaborative Agreement" & "How to improve your neighborhood". (This report is written by The CPD and simply rebroadcasted (so to speak) by "The Black Fist". This is in no way an advocation of this report nor is it in any way any type of approval of this report. This is simply "The Black Fist" giving our readers an "update" on what's up in the CPD, good, bad or indifferent)

Of course, The Black Fist welcome your views, opinions and comments on this subject.
The Collaborative Agreement has been a hot topic of discussion in this city in the last 4 years, We'd like to know what your thoughts on this "agreement" are today.
I have expressed the thoughts of The Black Fist regarding this "treaty". (See disclaimer note below) Now I'd like to hear yours!
Read the following article in The Cincinnati Police departments "Report to the Community":

THE COLLABORATIVE AGREEMENT
"The Collaborative Agreement, through the collective efforts and commitment of parties to the agreement - the City of Cincinnati, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) - is an opportunity to build relationships to benefit the entire City", says Community Police Parterning Center (CPOP) Executive Director Rick Biehl.
"The challenges facing police in promoting safe neighborhoods is directly affected by degree and quality of community involvement. We absolutely value citizen-led initiatives to help us address crime and disorder in our neighborhoods. We rely on the involvement of neighborhoods residents to help us identify and address open air drug markets, disorderly youth, gun violence, assaults on members of the community, theft and loitering", he adds.

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
"Resident involvement can be as simple as calling Crime Stoppers to report an incident, or as active as going through a SARA training", Biehl says. "We want to empower people to make smart choices. The value of community involvement is that neighbors know the local culture and resources and can help police in fixing the problems.
"The CPOP teams and the Community Parterning Center are ways to transform a community. While one person can make a difference and one call can make a difference, it is the collective efforts of community members that is most often the vehicle for improving community vitality and safety. This has been realized in neighborhoods where there are active CPOP teams that have produced such outcomes", states Biehl.
He offers several ways residents and business owners or managers can get more involved in neighborhood safety.
They include:

• Identify neighborhood skills and talents and use them to improve the quality in the community;
• Plan local events that are positive, non-confrontational and embrace the diversity that makes each area unique, as well as promote community cohesion;
• Take back your neighborhood! Help suppress negative influences by serving as a volunteer at a community center, school or place of worship or by joining a CPOP team;
• Indentify local cultural norms and seek the support of "grassroots" leaders who are well known, as well as well respected, in devolping responses that defend the community norms when there is a safety problem;
• Learn from and model sucessful community/police partnerships such as those found in Lower Price Hill and Northside; and
• Take part in police activities that are open to the community. Two excellent ones are the Citizens Police Academy and police "ride-along" tours.

"The last Saturday of every month from 10 a.m until noon, CPOP has a live show on WDBZ, 1230 AM", says Biehl. "We've had discussions about CPOP, youth activities, gun violence and other topics of importance to the community.

"The topics are from interested listeners and pulled from today's headlines. The residents of Cincinnati and the police are all looking for honesty, candor and heartfelt involvement. CPOP and the Community Police Partnering Center are easy ways for residents to get involved and make a difference in thier communities", concludes Biehl.

Well folks there you have it, your annual "Report to the Community" from The Cincinnati Police Department. What do you think? I have a few questions of my own such as:

1. Who is this mysterious "Community" that's constantly being referenced?
2. Who is CPOP "really" geared toward?
3. What ethnic group(s) are CPOP "really" designed for/against?
4. What "neighborhoods" are The Cincinnati Police "targeting" when they are "requesting" the "community" [snitch] on -OR- should I say "call your local police dept. to report a crime on?
5. Who is the person or persons "assigned" to determine who and/or what "grassroots" organizations are deemed "credible" and "well-respected" to "defend" the community "norms"?
6. And who and what determines what the "norms" are for what particular community?
7. Do you believe "The Collaborative Agreement" is even worth the paper that it's written on? --And Finally--
8. Where's all the damn money the City of Cincinnati has doled out to this CPOP "project"? "Whose getting paid"? "Is any of this money taxpayer dollars"? And last but certainly not least..."If CPOP is such a success and everybodies holding hands in "Non-Confrontational Cultural Diversity & Uniqueness" then Why in the blue hell is Cincinnati at an all time record breaking high when it comes to "Homicides" ???

This is an open discussion on the merits of "The Collaborative Agreement". Let's have an intellectual discourse based on that.

(See Blog Entry: KILLER COP BACK ON THE FORCE to get General Nikki X's opinion on the so-called "Collaborative Agreement")

(As a matter of record "The Cincinnati Black United Front" lead by then President and 2 time (2003 & 2005) former Cincinnati City Council Candiate Pastor Damon Lynch III was initially one of the parties involved in the signing of this so-called "agreement". They sat down at a table with the devil and signed a so-called "Peace treaty", just like the Indians did with the Pilgrams and as we all know now by "historical fact" that was the biggest fucking mistake those Indians could've ever made. The Cincinnati Black United Front pulled out of "The Collaborative Agreement" because thier claim at the time was "They wanted to escalate the boycott on the City of Cincinnnati". To this day, we [The Black People of Cincinnati] who "The Cincinnati Black United Front" claimed to be representing are still to this day... waiting for that big boycott "escalation".)