FOP Pres Ken Kober RE: CPS and Teen Violence

It's the stuff. How can we know that our boat's even gonna account? People aren't talking about whenever all these illegal get to vote.

Fifty five krc the talk station, Heyo five the fifty five KRCD talk station. Happy Wednesday judging at apal To on a bottom of the hour. Listen to launched next Wednesday. Anderson pub and Grill hope to see you there right now. Welcome back to the fifty five CARC morning. Sure, it's a pleasure to have you on FLP. President Ken Coober Ken, how you doing today?

I'm doing great, Brian? How are you?

I'm doing fine?

Saw Teresa DJ the police chief badgering the Cincinnai Public Schools Sinceni school Board, trying to get them to, I guess, engage in some effort to help deal with the rise in violence that's happening at the Metro bus stops where the Cinni Public school children gather to get to school. This has been a problem for a while, hasn't it.

Yeah, I mean we've had meetings going all the way back to January with Metro, with the City Manager's office, the Police Department, CPS, and so far your Metro has made significant contributions to try to.

Make this work.

They're willing to do anything for us, and since anti public schools have just sat on their hands and done nothing.

Well, I tell you described the regular problems or you know, you don't have to go into each every individual event, but it's happened so often. What types of activities are raising concerns? Are there fistfights breaking out? Are people bringing weapons? I mean gangs? I mean, what's the breakdown here? What's the main problems?

You name it?

It's a gamut.

You'll have forty fifty sixty kids fighting at a bus stop.

You'll have kids with guns.

Shooting at each other at bus stops. I mean, just creating just chaos at these places.

And so then the police are called.

And I presume that by the time you get there, the kids are already on the bus and gone to school or the activities otherwise broken up. By then, how are you responding to it without the help of the Cincinnai Public schools?

Well, so, the police department since the first of February has a four hundred and eighteen thousand dollars in overtime for our Civil Disturbance Response Team, for our SWAT response teams to be in these areas patrolling them after school.

Is this social media driven or I mean there's just this general societal breakdown. I mean, you know, I'm an old guy now, fine, Okay, I'm fifty nine years old, and if things are different now than when they were when I was a kid, YadA yad daye. Hear that all the time. But I mean, I just kind of wonder what is the impetus behind these fights breaking out so regularly that this has become an issue elevated to the attention where they're begging the public schools to do something about it.

Well, here's the biggest problem.

And I'm sure it was true when I was in high school, as that compared to when you were as well, as we went to our neighborhood school. So if you lived in College Hill, you went to ak And High School. You lived over in Western Hills, you went to West High. Now these kids can go to any schools within the city.

Okay, so it sounds me like you have a suggestion for a solution built in there somewhere, because I guess I understand a Chief theg's desire to have the public schools intervene or do something about it. But here I am if these kids hate each other merely because they're from different neighborhoods, I guess I'm wondering what a teacher or an administrator the since public schools can actually do to solve that problem.

Well, there's a couple things they could do. They could go back to neighborhoods schooling, and you know, if.

You live in like I said, you live in College Hill, you go to Akin. But the one thing that I've suggested that Metro was on board for that EPs just refused to do, was if you have kids that are suspended.

Why are you giving them bus passes? They have no right.

They're not going to school because they're suspended, So why are you going to give them the ability to use public transportation on the taxpayer's dime when they're suspended?

Wow?

And also also why are these kids having bus passed? Why are they allowed to be on these buses at eight o'clock at night if they're not involved in extra churricter activities.

Great question.

Those are two simple things that would cut down on a lot of this nonsense because reality is, you got

Sounds to me like an effort to support the bus system, because you tell me that the children they're insinside public schools that are taking metro buses get an all twenty four hour day, seven day week bus pass.

I don't think it's twenty four hours. Then it's certainly just Monday through Friday, because you'll see that they have fewer problems on the weekends because these kids aren't traveling throughout the city on these buses. But I mean, there'll be times where these kids are downtown it's past arc, you know, and many of these kids that they run into have been suspended already or they're not going to school. But then that brings up a whole other issue of sin, say, public school truancy.

They don't take attendance. Yeah, well, they don't take attendance. Can't be truant if we don't know that they're are you we don't know? Oh my god, they don't even take attendance.

No.

Well, the only positive thing I find in this entire conversation FOP president can cover is that they still suspend people for bad activity. I thought they may have eradicated eradicated that in the name of diversity, equity, inclusion or something like that.

Oh, you can't punish a student. It's beyond their control.

But if they are suspended, I'm with you, the bus passes should be maybe taken away because they're obviously providges to go to school been taken away. But now, as for the Sincinni Public schools, have these proposals along the lines of what you're talking been presented to them?

Have they?

Have they provided you with a response, because it sounds like the silence is pretty much deafening right now.

It is absolutely deafening.

There has been no response other than we're just not going to do it, which is brings me to my next point. If I've looked up the CPS board policies under eight six zero zero point one, it says the school board's primary concern is the transportation of students in their safety, and then it goes on to say that the Board of Education must ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to ensure safety, student safety, and supervision of students during transit to and from school. Well, that's clearly

Well, and I suppose their lawyers probably say, well, if they're standing at a bus stop, they're not engaging in during transit. Therefore, we have obligation before they get on the bus.

Which is interesting and I'm gonna get gonna get with some of these city leaders because apparently the state of Kentucky hasn't acted some legislation that says if they're at a bus stop, that's essentially an extension of school grounds. I like that came straight from a that came straight from a bus driver in Kentucky who just happened to see some of the things that were going on and send an email to the city saying, look, why don't you guys do this in Ohio?

This is what Kentucky does.

You know, it cut down on a lot of their nonsense that was going on at their bus stops.

So does that mean that the Kentucky schools, for example, could maybe assign a school resource officer i e. A uniformed officer that has been assigned to the school to show up at these bus stops and be there while the children are waiting for the buses.

They could, but what's been suggested in the school districts that we will not do this is have their staff there. And the reason I say this is, you know, they they've always been critical of the police in this pipeline from you know, school to prison. Yeah, and when you sit on your hands as a school district to do nothing, and the only answer is let's throw the police at this.

Well, I guess I'm just wondering if the criminal justice system and being prosecuted and getting a record and maybe spending time in a juvenile detention center or something is not as sufficient to turn to stop these kids from engaging a criminal behavior. Would the school staff being present in any way, shape or form at the bus stops be a sufficient to turn to these kids, because you know,

You know, at this point we're willing to try.

And Okay, got it.

What's going on right now?

I was just not working clearly.

Well, I like the legislative solution along the lines of what Kentucky's doing, taking any guesswork out of avoiding litigation. Pass the law that says the school by the Cincinni Public School's obligation as standing in local parentis of over children extends to the area around the bus stop, so our children can be considered safe while they're there. Don't know what repercussions might occur if they fail in that effort, but at least it would be their legal obligation, plain

Okay, yeah, I know.

Like I said, we've been suggesting solutions, and like I said, the biggest part is the fact that since a public just hasn't hasn't come to the table to try to even offer any solutions.

In fact, you know, as the chief.

And our Youth Services commander or Civil Disturbance Response Team commander myself were at the school board meeting, the Chief spoke and then the president of the school board abruptly said, I'm not going to allow any more of your entourage to speak.

We're done with this section.

Wow, which clearly they did not want to hear what the police chief of the City of Cincinnati, our law enforcement are safety expert. They did not want to hear what she had to say. And that part of it really is sad.

Well sort of draws attention to the reality that we've got a whole lot of really, really lawless young people in our community. Maybe they're just trying to keep the spotlight away from that. If a child is suspended for behavior issues in a school, does the Sinsint Public school ever take any efforts to outreach the family members, the parents, if there are any, the guardians of the suspended child, to find out what's going on at home. Because you

Oh, without a doubt, I'm raising two teenage boys and they are being raised the same way that I was, which is you're right. I was more afraid of what I was going to get in trouble with my parents, yea was with the school district. I just don't know that that's going on, and you know that brings up, of course, a bigger issue is, you know, the lack of parenting at home. You know the chief talked about it at the board meeting. Is there we're gonna start

Well happening all over this country in terms of children getting involved in shooting incidents. Parents are brought into court and they're found responsible because they were negligent in their handling and keeping the firearms at home, or they negligently provided a young person who does not have the lawful right to carry one with one. So it sounds like

Yeah, I mean, they've got to do something, like I said, throwing this problem at the feet of the police. It's only going to end tragically, you know, if we don't get these kids under control, if everybody doesn't come together to find these solutions. The reality is these officers, who are very very well trained, they're very very experienced, are going to end up encountering one of these kids with a firearm and we know how that typically is going to end, and it's not going to be well.

And that's since January when this has all started.

Have brought all this stuff to the forefront to try to get solutions so we can prevent these things from happening, and so far.

That just hasn't happened.

Well, it would be a little more refreshing if the school board actually seemed to have some measure of concern and some interest in helping, whatever help that might be. I think every little bit counts. As you know, well, God bless you and everybody else on the Cincinni Police Department. You know, my listeners and I have your backs and do anything we can in the name of law and

Just the thought that would be great outreach. Folks. You got to get engaged. Ken, I'll tell you what.

Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention and the listener's attention, and to the extent there's anything else for more messaging you want to get out there, You're always welcome here on the fifty five Carecen Morning Show.

Well, thanks, Brian, thanks for having me anytime.

Ken Cover, FOP President eight nineteen. Right now, fifty five k CD talk station. It's that time of year. Well, I guess it's fall officially, but it's still hot out. No, we're waiting for rain to show up, and we got a little bit, but it's still hot out. And of course you know what I'm going to say. Take care of your chimney, your fireplace, your free standing stove, your self feeding wood waste pellets, stove, take care of your safety now so you can enjoy the comfort of whatever