CINCINNATI – Mayor John Cranley hopes Interim Police Chief Elliot Isaac will remain chief in the long term, he said in an interview Friday.
“Obviously it's too soon to tell, but he's clearly a 26-year veteran of the police department, from here, committed to community-oriented policing and evidence-based policing, and that's what we need, and I think he'll do a great job," Cranley said.
Isaac was appointed shortly after City Manager Harry Black ousted Jeffrey Blackwell from the chief position Wednesday. A report released by Black stated that morale in the department was “at an unprecedented low” under Blackwell’s leadership.
Cranley said Friday that the short-term priority was continuing to improve morale and “do some healing” among Cincinnati police personnel.
“I’m hearing from the rank-and-file that they believe Elliot Isaac can repair the morale and that’s obviously the first order of the day,” Cranley said.
Having “the right leadership in place that’s committed to evidence-based policing is the right way to go,” the mayor said, adding that he believed Isaac’s style would mesh well with the “performance-based city government” and help address the shootings and violence that spiked over the summer.
Regarding the retirements of several high-ranking police officials over the summer, Cranley said he believed they had been planning to retire because they were at the end of their 30-year terms, not because of issues in the department.
“We have a very deep police department with great skill sets, and I think it’s a phenomenal group of captains, sergeants, lieutenants and rank-and-file, and I’m convinced with the right leadership that they’re going to really be in a good place,” Cranley said.
Even with the changes in the department and summer violence, Cranley said he believed the good happening in Cincinnati outweighed the bad in the city’s image.
“The big picture of the city is moving by leaps and bounds – the revitalization of Downtown, the riverfront park, OTR in downtown, the uptown – it continues, and so we’re moving forward, and I think big-picture it sends a message that all department heads are held to the same standard, and we’re focused on performance.”
