The News Record
THE 132-YEAR-OLD AWARD-WINNING INDEPENDENT STUDENT-RUN NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
THURSDAY | JANUARY 24 | 2013
VOL. CXXXIII ISSUE LVVVVVVII
CPD appoints captain
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CRIMES AT & AROUND UC Statistics from August 2012 until present courtesy of UCPD. Each bullet represents one incident.
Paul Humphries chosen to serve as assistant police chief for Cincinnati
LOCKDOWN
SHOTS FIRED
ASSAULT
DANI KOKOCHAK SENIOR REPORTER NEWSRECORDNEWS@GMAIL.COM Cincinnati Police Capt. Paul Humphries has been chosen to serve as assistant Cincinnati police chief making him second in command of the department. The appointment takes effect Jan. 31. “It is an honor to be in a leadership position with these people, and to work in a city that I was born and raised. I have no desire to leave and be a chief somewhere else,” Humphries said. “I have wanted to be a Cincinnati cop since I was five years old.” Humphries has been with the department for 26 years, and has served in a variety of roles, including undercover work, hostage negotiations for the SWAT team and event planning. Humphries graduated with a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati, where he plans to continue working as an adjunct professor. “I view him as someone who possesses leadership ability, and the ability to work effectively through others,” said Police Chief James Craig. “As I embarked on changing the culture of [CPD], one of the things I was most concerned [with] was how management treated rank and file employees,” Craig said. “He got that, and I’ve seen where he has been able to interact effectively with the people he works with.” City Manager Milton Dohoney selected Humphries after two final interviews. The search process included internal and external candidates. Humphries will receive an increase in base salary as assistant chief. Humphries was chosen based on his intimate working knowledge, administration abilities and support for the direction and vision of the department, Craig said. Knowledge of department operations and commitment to the city of Cincinnati are among the qualities Humphries possesses that were important factors in the selection process, Craig said. “In my opinion, of the field of candidates that put in [resumes], Paul certainly was the absolute best candidate for the position,” Craig said.
HOMICIDE
ROBBERY INFOGRAPHIC BY: KATE DAVIS | DESIGNER
SECURING CAMPUS SAFETY University of Cincinnati officials and police explained the shelter-in-place procedure, enacted when there is an imminent threat to students, and how they prepare for emergencies such as the danger of an active shooter on campus.
GIMME SHELTER Experts, UC officials examine emergency procedures KARA DRISCOLL NEWS EDITOR NEWSRECORDNEWS@GMAIL.COM Members of the University of Cincinnati community are no strangers to gunfire. Over the past two months, the university activated its shelter-in-place warning on campus three separate times, advising students and faculty members to seek refuge inside a building while isolating themselves from outside threats. After a flurry of school shootings over the last several months, university officials acknowledged the need to prepare students for potentially dangerous situations. If a gunman infiltrated UC’s campus, the shelter-in-place alert would be enacted, said Jeff Corcoran, assistant chief of UC Police. Corcoran heads UC’s Emergency Preparedness Committee, which was established to prepare for emergency situations on campus and examine emergency plans. The committee annually reviews the Emergency Operations Plan. The committee began discussing and planning protocols for an active shooter in 2000. “We always look at ongoing threats,” Corcoran said. “We discuss topics like, ‘Do we need to change any of our actions?’” In the event of an emergency, Corcoran said communication is key for students. By alerting the community through the campus sound system, email and text alerts, UCPD hopes it can reach as many students as possible. “The primary means of alerting students of a situation is through the [alert radio],” he said. “Secondary would be through texts
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and emails. It’s nice but we don’t depend on [text alerts]. We can’t control telephone networks.” During a serious incident, UC’s website would be replaced with a separate website instructing the community on emergency plans. UCPD trains every year to respond to an active shooter situation. It could take 20 to 40 minutes for a SWAT team to arrive, Corcoran said. While the UC president’s cabinet regularly discusses emergency protocol, officials did not have a specific discussion after the shooting in Newtown, Conn. “The general approach [to an active shooter situation before the shooting at Columbine] was that you surround the building and wait for SWAT to arrive,” said UCPD Captain Rodney Chatman. “They did that at Columbine and officers were outside while people were being killed inside. So we changed as a result of Columbine. We changed our approach to if there is an active shooter, as soon as we have two or three [officers] we’re going in to stop the shooting.” Yet a campus shooting isn’t to happen at UC, Chatman said. “Students are more likely to be eaten by a polar bear than to be involved in a campus shooting,” Chatman said. “In my personal opinion, if we’re going to engage students, I’d rather engage them on things that are more likely happen to them like theft or sexual assault by an acquaintance.” Debbie Gardner, founder of the Survive Institute, said the fear of a campus shooter is unnecessary — the anxiety of waiting for something to happen
can be more damaging. While officials update safety protocols and prepare for worst-case scenarios, shootings and other gun-related incidents occurred during the fall semester. On Nov. 18, 2012, a man was shot multiple times on Jefferson Avenue across from Turner Hall. The homicide was the first incident in the academic year that caused the shelter-in-place alert to go off on campus. UC officials enacted the shelter-inplace warning twice after a student was robbed at gunpoint on Glendora Avenue and several other students reported shots fired on Calhoun Street Dec. 9, 2012. The university-wide alert was lifted at approximately 2:30 a.m. The heightened awareness of crime throughout the student body is a problem UC officials and police officers are attempting to combat through increased patrols, more lighting on campus and open communication with the community. UCPD patrols have increased 30 percent since January, UC President Santa Ono said. “I’ve heard from a number of students that they see the increased patrols,” Ono said. “I’m happy with the progress we’ve made thus far. There is still a good bit of work that still needs to be done and we’re committed to doing that.” Gardner is committed to changing the reputation of UC’s unsafe campus. “[Ono] seems determined to do something [about campus safety]. Stop blaming UC Police and administration,” Gardner said.“Regardless of where you are, your personal safety is your responsibility.”
U-Square development controversy Council to convene meeting addressing union complaints BENJAMIN GOLDSCHIMDT CHIEF REPORTER NEWSRECORDNEWS@GMAIL.COM Due to controversy about the construction of U-Square @ the Loop, the Carpenter’s Union wants city government to change the way it works alongside private corporations to revitalize parts of Cincinnati. Towne Properties and Al Neyer, Inc. entered a contractual agreement with the city to get financial help to build the parking garage portion of the development. In that contract, the private developers agreed to only hire contractors that pay workers the union wage of $23.17 an hour. After a discrepancy about what parts of the project the union wage applied to, the State of Ohio ruled there is no statute forcing Towne Properties or Al Neyer, Inc. to pay its workers union wage — except those working on construction of the garage, said Arn Bortz, managing partner for Towne Properties. In a meeting with the Strategic Growth Committee Tuesday, representatives from
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the Carpenters Union and the Greater Cincinnati Building and Construction Trades Council expressed its concerns with U-Square’s current development. Both organizations think the city government could do better going forward. Members from each party are expected to meet with City Manager Milton Dohoney Feb. 7 to discuss rewording future public-private contracts. “They’re breaking the law, and they’re being rewarded from those who follow the law and pay their taxes — in this particular project to the tune of $20 million — that is unacceptable,” said Dave Meier of the Carpenters Union. Meier suggested for future contracts the city should outline a provision to allow interested third parties — such as the Carpenters Union — to have some oversight. Councilmember Chris Seelbach said the developer’s behavior is unacceptable, and pledged to help make changes in the future. “Our job is to make sure that there’s no loopholes, so we’ve got to do a better
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job to make sure that they’re not able — especially if they’re getting money from us — to find exceptions, to find ways to bypass the rules,” Seelbach said. Laure Quinlivan, chair of the Strategic Growth Committee, suggested members of the Carpenters Union write its suggested changes prior to meeting with the city manager. The Greater Cincinnati Building and Construction Trades Council called for the entire project to be considered a public improvement in a lawsuit, which would make the developers contractually obligated to ensure all workers are paid minimum wages regardless of which part of the project they work on. Though the state ruled in favor of the developer’s ability to not pay minimum wages for certain workers, protestors from the Indiana-Kentucky-Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters held up signs by the development reading, “Shame, shame on Towne Properties.” In response, Bortz said Towne Properties has every right to pay wages “consistent with the marketplace,” to those
working within the confines of the private sections of the development, and the Carpenters Union also has every right to stand on the sidewalk and protest. “We’re very proud of what we’re producing at U-Square,” Bortz said. “Nonetheless, [union representatives] will stand out there as they have in front of Proctor and Gamble, Kroger and other good corporate citizens with whom they disagree about the wage scales being paid on certain construction projects.” Dave Meier from the Carpenters Union said representatives from Al Neyer, Inc. told him he could not enter the premises outside the garage area to ask workers if they are being paid the prevailing wage, and told him he would be arrested for trespassing in the future. “It’s a shame what happens to some of these workers,” said Chad Day of the Greater Cincinnati Building and Construction Trades Council. “They’re pressed into keeping their job, pressed into lower wages, pressed into getting no benefits and at the same time the city doesn’t get their fair share of taxes.”
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