Why Billy Cunningham the Great America. About twelve days ago there were a group of so called neo Nazis standing on a bridge overpast I seventy five, hurling forth some of their neo Nazi symbols. Since then, all hell's broken loose,
I head on. A couple hours ago, David Ferrera. Ferrera is a new reporter with the Inquir's been out it for about seven or eight months, but long experience in the journalism business, wrote a column that quote, armed men are guarding the streets of Lincoln Heights, stopping cars and vetting passers. By joining you and I now, as the Sheriff of Hamilton County, Charmaine mcguffey's been out at about thirty some years in law enforcement, that twice elected sheriff
and Sheriff welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show. And first of all, I want to get your reaction to this inchoir story about armed men walking up to a car windows with guns pointed in that direction, ordering the occupants to do or not do certain things. What about that?
Well, thank you Bill for having me on so that I can tell the constituents of Hamilton County the facts first of all, report There were two reports made about this. The first report was a report that surrounded this. There was a woman on the fourteenth here of February who was sitting at a stop sign and she wrote it went down and she took photos of a man standing with carrying a firearm open carry. And the man stepped to her window and said, I don't want this on Facebook.
Delete it, and she did, and then she drove off. And it was called in as an information only because there was no crime. There was no crime committed, so we took that report on the fourteenth as an information only. The next one that we have and these are the only two actual reports that we have where citizens actually reported to us thing, and that is the man who on the tent. He was today at a stop sign and and a man approached his window and said who
was open carrying? And said, you know you don't, you don't need to be here, you should leave, and the man and then the driver that he wasn't standing in front of the vehicle. He didn't point the gun at the man. He stepped away from the car, and the man turned left and left the and left Lincoln Heights, and that happened on the tent. After the man talked to the reporter who he just named, he went up to this man who was in the car. He went up to our Sycamore Township location and filed a report
yesterday at like four point thirty in the afternoon. So that was then, you know that what got routed to our CIS division, which is our Crew Middal Investigation Division, and it's already been assigned to a detective to investigate. And those are the two reports we have. And literally, I mean you know, the thing that is alleged to be something that was a complaint was filed last night at four point thirty in the evening.
If somebody would drive. I talked to another inchoir reporter other than Ferrara, who told me that there are armed men standing on street corners with semi aimatic weapons. May I say, that's not illegal just to stand there. We're an open carry state. However, it is illegal to point the gun at somebody in order them to do something that could be kidnapping, could be inducing panic, could be
impersonating a police officer. The one report was that the man and the photos in the inquir story from a couple of days previous It looks rather intimidating to have armed men pointing rifles at citizens. Fact in the story it says maybe maybe a report it wasn't filed that in the Wendy's drive through some of these armed men who are defending Lincoln Ice would walk up to someone in the drive through and point a weapon in the
direction of somebody waiting for their hamburger. Have you gotten a report on that one?
I have not. I have not. Bill. I'm telling you, we do not have anything in writing. We have no one calling our districts or calling us to allege any of that happening. Our deputy did respond to a call to come to Wendy's. He spoke to the manager there, and the manager asked him, what are these men who on carrying weapons? And our deputy said, well, it's open carry. And just like with the neo Nazis, the Ohio legislature has an open carry for Ohio. We cannot go and
arrest anyone for open carry. And that is what the manager said to our deputy. He didn't tell our deputy that anybody was pointing a weapon. None of that was alligated. We have none of that on paper. If somebody has a picture of it, please send it to us. I mean, you know, these are things that in the police world.
In the cop world, we write it down, We write down times, we write down places, and the deputy said when he talked to the Wendy's manager, the Wendy's manager said, Okay, I just wanted to ask the question.
Okay, as far as what message, as the chief law enforcement officer of Hamlin A County, would you send to residents of Lincoln Heights or the area that would dress up looking like police. They have emblems. One of the times, according to the inquiry reporter, he said, we are the police, and that standing on street corners is one thing. Pointing a rifle at somebody, it's like almost a kidnapping charge.
On the other hand, what message would you send to those who continue to continue to do this kind of stuff in Lincoln Heights.
Well, first of all, I would like to I would like to differentiate between an allegation and an actual provable fact. We have no evidence that that happened other than someone saying it happened. Again, if we have a picture, if we have an actual report a street of something for us to go investigate deputies have been called to certain areas and when they get there, they observe a man standing with an open carry. And what the message to everyone,
not just Lincoln Heights, but everyone. Look, law enforcement is being as absolutely transparent about this and as anybody can, right because there are certain things that are under investigation. But every department that's been involved in this has released body cam, has addressed public people, have addressed public meetings.
I mean, we're all working to push out this information to vilify the police, any police, any police officer, to vilify that person because that officer has not been given the tools by the Ohio state legislators to do something to make arrest in those situations, to confront people for IDs, which we can't demand an ID. We can't do the things that we would want to do. And I'm pleading with everyone to you know what, there's no reason to vilify police officers. I guarantee you no one was involved
with the Nazis. No one knew this was coming. I've talked to numerous people, numerous chiefs all around Hamilton County. Every one of us is outraged, Every officer is outraged, and I'm begging people to please keep your head about this. Look, you know, we're doing what we can. If there's any way we can bring some of these men to justice who were spewing all of that hate speech and so forth, we will. But you know, there has to be a process.
I don't care where we are or what department you're with. There's a process in government to make things happen and do things so you don't get sued, so people don't get shot and so forth, and people aren't injured. And our deputies and the officers that responded did everything they could, everything they knew to do to de escalate, and that's what we're trained for.
Sheriff McGuffey, do you have a specific person in Lincoln Heights who's like a command or somebody in charge who's physically present daily or is it something on a nine to one one basis someone is sent there. Is there like a sub station or sheriff's deputy sitting there day by day or is it a nine to one one call then you go there.
No, No, our station is manned, and it is in Lincoln Heights. It sits dead in Lincoln Heights, and it is it's a substation of type. Right, But that's where our officers are. Our patrol cars are there, our officers are in and out of that building. It is very very easy to be in Lincoln Heights and content at a patrol officer if you're there, if you come to the district, And those are things we encourage people to do if they have a complaint or they can make
a call. One thing, I want to point out these nine one one calls, and I know nine one wants to be flooded with calls about men carrying weapons, men standing on a street corner armed with a rifle, and so forth. Look, you know, I have to tell people and I have to point them in the right direction. It's not the police. Those are your Ohio legislators that need to make better gun safety laws and whatever they're going to do. But as soon as they say it's okay to open carry, I mean our hands are tied.
And I you know, whether you're a hate speech person a Nazi, which is you know, I just can't even say enough, how just disgusted I am with the Nazis and what their messaging is and so forth. I'm disgusted. But you can't differ centiate. You can't say, well, the Nazis get to carry open carry and nobody else does. Well,
that's not realistic. And if we want to change the laws and we want to make this less of a wildlff wess, the Ohio legislators need to get together, get working and legislate this so that the police have some options.
So if someone in Lincoln Heights at a Wendy's drive through has a person walking up to them appearing to want to look like a police officer, the photo looks like someone who might be a cop and wants to question them, that person, assuming it doesn't happen in the presence of a police officer, and most crime does not, that person's got to file a complaint and say, essentially, academically,
that would be kidnapping. You can't point a gun at somebody and say unless you do something, something else is going to happen.
Correct. Well, that's exactly right, Bill, That's exactly right. We need to know. We need a report because we need time, we need date, we need we need location, we need any witnesses we need we need all of that information so that we can follow this down. Listen, our officers and deputies in Hamilton County are incredibly courageous. They put themselves on the line every day, all day, and I'm
asking the citizens to please respect that. I mean, we can't run down just because somebody you know, calls you, for instance, and says, hey, this happened to me, But yet we have no record of it, we have no report, we have no information. You know, it's ridiculous to think that somehow we're responsible for not responding.
How about this one the incidents, there was an information on only on the fourteenth, a woman in a car, and that a man on the tenth, and last night an inquiry reporter indirectly or directly filed a complaint about the gunpointed at the reporter who's David Ferrera. And that's what you mentioned earlier and at this point, and are you going to thoroughly investigate these allegations of really crimes committed by Lincoln Heights or others who appear to be police,
who point guns at people and say do something? Are you going to actively investigate that over the next few days.
Of course I am, and I would do it whether it was in Lincoln Heights or Sycamore Township or anywhere else we patrol and every other police chief in this arena would do the same. You know, if we get a complaint which I have not seen or heard of any complaint that this reporter filed saying that someone pointed a gun at him, and I will, after this call, promise you, I will call the supervisors and majors and
so forth and run this down to find out. But before you talk to me on the phone, I made calls. I talked to the lieutenant, the commander of Lincoln Heights. I talked to other majors. What have we seen? What has been reported? And the two things we just talked about were the only things. No one has alligated that a weapon has been Adam nobody.
Okay, Well, David Ferrara said that about two hours ago and off the air. I'll send you a cell phone number to expedite things. I have a text here from a police officer who says, are you tracking down the Neo Nazis because they used a U haul with a license plate from I think Kentucky. Is that something across state lines the FBI would do or is that something Are you interested in identifying the Neo Nazis at all?
Well, first of all, I addressed all of that bill in my press conference yesterday, and the purpose of the press conference was to clarify those things for the public. Right, there are certain things that we are allowed to do by law. There are other things that I have asked
the county prosecutor to research and potentially investigate. I've talked to the lead special officer in the FBI for the Cincinnati Division and the Ohio Criminal Investigations of Bureau, and you know, I have tentacles out to all those people, and everyone's working in a legal way to do what they can do. And you know, we're working with other agencies that also track these hate crimes and so forth, that aren't policing agencies, so that they can share their
information with us. Now, you know, that's the extent of what we can do, and I made that very clear. And you know, once again I want to emphasize the officers that respond to this were under extreme stress. You know, they were acting as they're trained to act, which is to de escalate, get these men out of the area. And again I call for people police stand down, do not threaten our officers, don't do things that escalate this.
We're working as hard as we can, and there isn't one person I've talked to in uniform that isn't you know, absolutely on board. This was disgusting. It should never go on. And we're going to absolutely train and be better, you know, and hopefully I don't know, you know. Be not surprised is the way I should put it. Not surprised when this happens again, and will orchestrate our response, and well, I'm sure it will.
I will. And lastly, you told me off there crime is down seventy percent on Lincoln Heights. Is that correct? So the last five to three or four, five, six, seven years are the crime rates way down?
Yes? It is. In twenty fifteen, and I have these numbers prepared. We call it Part one, which is serious crimes, felonies, robberies, shootings, murders, anything like that. There were one hundred and three that were investigated and so forth in twenty fifteen, and now in twenty twenty four there are sixty six. That's a reduction of about thirty five percent. For Part two crimes, which are misdemeanors excluding traffic, which would be like disorderly conduct,
drug abuse, DUI, things like that. Uh, there were two hundred and sixty six that were investigated, and in fifteen, in twenty twenty four there were one hundred and forty four. That's a forty five percent reduction. And that is where I get, you know, a conservative number of seventy percent. Crime is down seventy percent in Lincoln Heights. And it's not only just due to the police officers, which are doing a great job over there, all right, an excellent job,
but it's also the community that's cooperating. The community wants crime down, and we've had great, great cooperation from the Lincoln Heights mayor from their council. We feel very comfortable talking to them, and you know they're helping with this with a lot of youth initiatives and things like that. So, yes, crime is down on Lincoln Heights.
Fine, we got to go, But Sheriff McGuffey, thank you, and I'll share with you with his permission, the telephone number of the reporter who had a gun pointed at him. Also a guy named Jim Meister said that he lives in Lincoln Heights. Say he tell us this person quote, I'm calling the police, and that this person with the gun the rifle pointed at him and said we are
the police, and so Jim Meister is another one. If he will step forward, raise his hands, go okay, this is what happened to me, This is who did it?
Away you go, yep, report it to us. It will be investigated to the fullest, and if there has been a crime committed, we will certainly prosecute that to its fullest.
Submit it to prosecutor's office and let's see what's happened to rest here it out. Hopefully crime is also down, but according to this reporter for the inquired, there have been numerous examples of guns pointed at people. And I'm gonna make you. I'll give you the number with his permission, and then if that happens away we go.
Yeah, absolutely, Bill, and thank you very much. And in my appeal to the public, please make that clear, you know, give us a chance, give us some room. Are people that are wearing that uniform, they're people too, they have feelings, they're working hard, they work day and night. They're doing the right things.
So thank you very much, Sheriff McGuffey, thank you very much. God bless you. Thank you very much. But let's continue with more news is next at Rome of the Reds News radio seven hundred WLW