WHEN THE COPS ARE HANDCUFFED, CRIME TAKES A CITY HOSTAGE

Drug Cancer

This is Cincinnati: A perfect spring day at a Reds game, families cracking
jokes and peanuts, cheering until the last out, then back on the freeway to
big, safe lawns in MiniVanville.

This is Cincinnati on drugs: "They called me at home at 4 a.m. A voice
said, 'I'm here.' 1 said, 'What do you mean, you're here?' He said, '1 can
see you sitting up in bed. Now I see you walking by your window."'

The man in the car fled before police arrived, but his words linger. "A man
came to my house and threatened to rape my wife," said Steve Goodin.

Like Chicago, 1929

Mr. Goodin is an assistant Hamilton County prosecutor. The threats began
when his wife, Jennifer, executive director of Ronald McDonald House,
testified against renewal of a liquor license for Uncle Milt's, a hangout
for drug dealers who infest Burnet Avenue.

"I know what these guys are capable of," Mr. Goodin said "They can turn
very violent when they feel their turf is violated."

It sounds like Chicago, 1929, not Cincinnati in 2002. But parts of
Cincinnati look like lawless corners of Detroit and Los Angeles, where the
drug boys operate brazenly in broad daylight, with no fear.

Law-enforcement officials, community activists and residents agree: The
police feel handcuffed. Cops no longer aggressively go after drug dealers
because they've seen what happens when drug suspects resist arrest.

In case after case, cops have been accused of racism and excessive force.
The cops have been investigated, put on trial, threatened with jail, forced
into debt for legal fees. Their careers and lives have been wrecked.

Blame the Cops

The Rev. Damon Lynch III has played the race card to make cops the bad guys
and glorify outlaws as martyrs. "If you want to get the cops to back off,
just yell, 'Racial profiling,' " said Tom Jones, who is trying to clean up
his mostly black neighborhood in Avondale. "The most ridiculous crap is
accepted by Cincinnati, and nobody will say anything against it. If you do,
you are ostracized."

Some blame the cops for a "slowdown." But the same critics would be the
first to yell "racism" if a drug dealer resists and gets hurt. The cops
knew that and drug dealers nearly always fight or run.

To a cop, it's all pain and no gain to bust the drug markets in
Over-the-Rhine and Avondale that provide curbside service to buyers from
the suburbs.

Even if they make an arrest, the dealer can be back on the street in hours,
according to Tom Gould, chief deputy for Hamilton County Clerk of Courts
James Cissell.

"The cost of bail bonds up to a million dollars is often looked at as a
cost of doing business in that world," Mr. Gould said. "It's not unusual to
see $25,000, up to $100,000 posted the same day.It takes about four to five
hours to do the arrest paperwork After that; they can be back on the
street. It's revolving door justice."

Mr. Goodin has watched the wide-open drug deals, prostitution, brawls and
crime at Milt's after dark. He says, "It's insane."

And so is Cincinnati for handcuffing its cops as the drug cancer spreads.

For now, it's an "inner-city" problem. But it could be coming soon to a
neighborhood near you.

Just ask Mr. and Mrs. Goodin.