CINCINNATI -- Police are getting $300,000 in overtime to help combat the recent spike in shootings, City Manager Harry Black said Thursday.
The Police Visibility Overtime funding will increase police presence in current high-crime areas in Districts 1, 2 and 4, police Chief Eliot Isaac said in a memo to Black.
Police reported 57 gunshot victims in Cincinnati this year as of a week ago, compared to 31 during the same period last year. The city had seen more than eight shootings in the last week.
Last year, city officials celebrated a 11 percent reduction in shootings from 2015.
The action resulted from a Tuesday meeting that included several police units as well as the FBI, DEA, ATF and the Southwest Violent Crimes Task Force, Isaac said.
The meeting also produced other short-term strategies, Isaac said. They include:
- Using the Crime Analysis and Problem Solving Unit (CAPS) to identify emerging hot spots of violence and employing personnel to those locations.
- Increasing bicycle officers in those communities to engage with residents.
"The meeting reaffirmed that our violent crime reduction strategies ... are solid in regards to long-term shooting violence reduction and consistent with best practices nationwide," Isaac said.
That includes the use of technology, Isaac said.
CPD is already employing the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network to link shootings together. Coming next: SpotShooter technology that identifies where and when shots are fired. That will "help to overcome the recurring obstacle of less than cooperative victims and witnesses," the chief said.
