Violent Crime Seminar

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory and Police Chief Tom Streicher joined their peers from all over the nation in Washington, D.C. Wednesday for a day-long National Violent Crime Summit.

Mallory said the most shocking thing about the summit is that everyone reported that crime in general is declining while violent crime is on the rise. Most of the cities represented say they are on pace to set a new homicide record this year.

Philip Bates became the city's 58th homicide victim this year when he was gunned down early Sunday morning on his front porch. There were 79 homicides last year -- the most since 1977.

"Almost without exception, the overall crime rate is down but there is a spike in violent crime," Mallory said. "That is just a national trend. There is a sense among people that grabbing a firearm and using it is an acceptable way to resolve problems."

The morning session focused on national trends in violent crime while the afternoon the group participated in a facilitated discussion on solutions to the problem.

"The rise in violent crime that we have seen in Cincinnati has been seen in almost every city across the country," Streicher said in a prepared statement. "We are encouraged that our situation is at the low end of the tide. I think that we can still safely say that we are one of the safest major cities in the United States."

The FBI reports a 5-percent increase in homicides nationwide last year. Mallory said most of the 200 or so officials attending the summit said their homicide rates would surpass last year.

"That's true in smaller cities of 50,000 or 100,000 people," Mallory said. "It doesn't matter if you're big or small, there's just been an increase."

Mallory made the point that it will be important to be united in efforts to pursuade national and state lawmakers to help. Ten years ago, for example, nearly every city had more officers on the streets because of an initiative by the Clinton administration. Others said it would be nice if there were no restrictions on how homeland security equipment can be used.

Mallory also said a pending bill that would restrict information sharing between local officials and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms would be a mistake.

"We're trying to get guns off the streets, and that's what they do," Mallory said of the ATF. "It's troubling. You want to think there's one or two things causing this. But it's happening nationally. And it's hard to identify why. What makes a 12-year-old inner citiy kid deal drugs then shoot somebody because they trashed his car?"