Much to the dismay of a number of people who live and work in Over the Rhine, the Police department has decided not to add extra officers to the area now that Sheriffs are pulling out for budget reasons.
This is a tough call for the PD. Crime has gone down big time since Sheriffs started helping patrol OTR back in October of 2005. The thinking goes….why add additional police to an area where crime is on the decline?
The problem is that OTR is not out of the woods. Anyone who has been down there lately will tell you that for every nice new store or apartment building, there are still three or four run down ones. The criminal element is not gone…they’ve just moved down the street. And many fear they are ready to come back the minute police let up.
The cops, of course, say they won’t let things get back to the way they were…promising to beef up their presence if crime returns. But will it be too late? The department’s betting not….but only time will tell if the gamble pays off.
