DETERS SAYS CITY LEADERS NEED TO HELP POLICE MORE

Let Cops Do Their Job To Stop Violence - Prosecutor

Saying the city's future is "bleak" because of rampant gun violence,
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters on Friday called on city
political leaders to give the police more support and let them do their job.

"The violence the city is seeing is really unprecedented," Deters said.

Deters said city political leaders lack "the background, training and
experience to dictate how the police can do their job."

Deters said it's difficult for them to do that job if politicians
attempt to dictate how they should operate and law-abiding residents
fail to realize police are on their side, the prosecutor said.

"Eventually, the communities where this stuff is happening have to
understand police are not the enemy," Deters said.

"The problem in the city - I can categorically say - is not police brutality."

Deters' comments came Friday after he announced the separate
multi-count indictments of two men on gun-related offenses.

One set of indictments was against a man who allegedly killed an
innocent woman as she sat on an park bench in Over-the-Rhine and the
other against a man accused of opening fire at a crowd of people on
downtown street near Fountain Square.

On Wednesday night, two women were hit by bullets fired by two men
who sprayed a half-block area near Linn and York streets with assault weapons.

Police said the men, who have not be caught, were firing at a rival
drug dealer.

While drugs are a common denominator among the mostly young men who
are perpetrating the gun violence, Deters said, it's also the
gangster culture of those who think it's cool to have guns and not to
go to school.

Deters declined to name names when asked which political leaders he
was specifically referring to regarding their efforts to dictate how
the police operate.

However, the prosecutor did say city residents have the opportunity
in November to elect a mayor and city council who will support the police.

Indicted Friday by a Hamilton County grand jury on gun
related-offenses involving innocent bystanders were Jason Baker, 27,
and Michael Simmons, 18.

Baker was indicted on two counts of murder, two counts of felonious
assault and one count of having weapons while under disability.

Baker is charged with firing several times into a crowd at Findlay
Park on June 11, the prosecutor's office said.

The bullets were meant for two other men, but hit and killed Teresa
Renee Hill, who was sitting in the park.

"It is an all too common occurrence in the city," Deters said of the
fatal shooting. "The callous disregard for the life of others is
epidemic. Mr. Baker faces life in prison. And the longer he and
others like him are in prison, the safer Cincinnati will be."

Michael Simmons was indicted on eight counts of felonious assault,
seven counts of attempted murder, possession of cocaine, trafficking
in cocaine, carrying a concealed weapon and having a weapon while
under disability.

On June 15, Simmons opened fire into a crowd of people at Sixth and
Vine streets, the prosecutor's office said.

Simmons fled, but he was arrested nearby by police, authorities said.

"The time has come for the city to realize what we are dealing with -
lawless vermin," Deters said. "People need to be able to do what is
necessary to protect our citizens, free from the 'blame the police
first' crowd at City Hall."