Speaker 1: Why Billy Cunningham the Great America. About twelve days ago
Speaker 1: there were a group of so called neo Nazis standing
Speaker 1: on a bridge overpast I seventy five, hurling forth some
Speaker 1: of their neo Nazi symbols. Since then, all hell's broken loose,
Speaker 1: I head on. A couple hours ago, David Ferrera. Ferrera
Speaker 1: is a new reporter with the Inquir's been out it
Speaker 1: for about seven or eight months, but long experience in
Speaker 1: the journalism business, wrote a column that quote, armed men
Speaker 1: are guarding the streets of Lincoln Heights, stopping cars and
Speaker 1: vetting passers. By joining you and I now, as the
Speaker 1: Sheriff of Hamilton County, Charmaine mcguffey's been out at about
Speaker 1: thirty some years in law enforcement, that twice elected sheriff
Speaker 1: and Sheriff welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show. And
Speaker 1: first of all, I want to get your reaction to
Speaker 1: this inchoir story about armed men walking up to a
Speaker 1: car windows with guns pointed in that direction, ordering the
Speaker 1: occupants to do or not do certain things. What about that?
Speaker 2: Well, thank you Bill for having me on so that
Speaker 2: I can tell the constituents of Hamilton County the facts
Speaker 2: first of all, report There were two reports made about this.
Speaker 2: The first report was a report that surrounded this. There
Speaker 2: was a woman on the fourteenth here of February who
Speaker 2: was sitting at a stop sign and she wrote it
Speaker 2: went down and she took photos of a man standing
Speaker 2: with carrying a firearm open carry. And the man stepped
Speaker 2: to her window and said, I don't want this on Facebook.
Speaker 2: Delete it, and she did, and then she drove off.
Speaker 2: And it was called in as an information only because
Speaker 2: there was no crime. There was no crime committed, so
Speaker 2: we took that report on the fourteenth as an information only.
Speaker 2: The next one that we have and these are the
Speaker 2: only two actual reports that we have where citizens actually
Speaker 2: reported to us thing, and that is the man who
Speaker 2: on the tent. He was today at a stop sign
Speaker 2: and and a man approached his window and said who
Speaker 2: was open carrying? And said, you know you don't, you
Speaker 2: don't need to be here, you should leave, and the
Speaker 2: man and then the driver that he wasn't standing in
Speaker 2: front of the vehicle. He didn't point the gun at
Speaker 2: the man. He stepped away from the car, and the
Speaker 2: man turned left and left the and left Lincoln Heights,
Speaker 2: and that happened on the tent. After the man talked
Speaker 2: to the reporter who he just named, he went up
Speaker 2: to this man who was in the car. He went
Speaker 2: up to our Sycamore Township location and filed a report
Speaker 2: yesterday at like four point thirty in the afternoon. So
Speaker 2: that was then, you know that what got routed to
Speaker 2: our CIS division, which is our Crew Middal Investigation Division,
Speaker 2: and it's already been assigned to a detective to investigate.
Speaker 2: And those are the two reports we have. And literally,
Speaker 2: I mean you know, the thing that is alleged to
Speaker 2: be something that was a complaint was filed last night
Speaker 2: at four point thirty in the evening.
Speaker 1: If somebody would drive. I talked to another inchoir reporter
Speaker 1: other than Ferrara, who told me that there are armed
Speaker 1: men standing on street corners with semi aimatic weapons. May
Speaker 1: I say, that's not illegal just to stand there. We're
Speaker 1: an open carry state. However, it is illegal to point
Speaker 1: the gun at somebody in order them to do something
Speaker 1: that could be kidnapping, could be inducing panic, could be
Speaker 1: impersonating a police officer. The one report was that the
Speaker 1: man and the photos in the inquir story from a
Speaker 1: couple of days previous It looks rather intimidating to have
Speaker 1: armed men pointing rifles at citizens. Fact in the story
Speaker 1: it says maybe maybe a report it wasn't filed that
Speaker 1: in the Wendy's drive through some of these armed men
Speaker 1: who are defending Lincoln Ice would walk up to someone
Speaker 1: in the drive through and point a weapon in the
Speaker 1: direction of somebody waiting for their hamburger. Have you gotten
Speaker 1: a report on that one?
Speaker 2: I have not. I have not. Bill. I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: we do not have anything in writing. We have no
Speaker 2: one calling our districts or calling us to allege any
Speaker 2: of that happening. Our deputy did respond to a call
Speaker 2: to come to Wendy's. He spoke to the manager there,
Speaker 2: and the manager asked him, what are these men who
Speaker 2: on carrying weapons? And our deputy said, well, it's open carry.
Speaker 2: And just like with the neo Nazis, the Ohio legislature
Speaker 2: has an open carry for Ohio. We cannot go and
Speaker 2: arrest anyone for open carry. And that is what the
Speaker 2: manager said to our deputy. He didn't tell our deputy
Speaker 2: that anybody was pointing a weapon. None of that was alligated.
Speaker 2: We have none of that on paper. If somebody has
Speaker 2: a picture of it, please send it to us. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, these are things that in the police world.
Speaker 2: In the cop world, we write it down, We write
Speaker 2: down times, we write down places, and the deputy said
Speaker 2: when he talked to the Wendy's manager, the Wendy's manager said, Okay,
Speaker 2: I just wanted to ask the question.
Speaker 1: Okay, as far as what message, as the chief law
Speaker 1: enforcement officer of Hamlin A County, would you send to
Speaker 1: residents of Lincoln Heights or the area that would dress
Speaker 1: up looking like police. They have emblems. One of the times,
Speaker 1: according to the inquiry reporter, he said, we are the police,
Speaker 1: and that standing on street corners is one thing. Pointing
Speaker 1: a rifle at somebody, it's like almost a kidnapping charge.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, what message would you send to
Speaker 1: those who continue to continue to do this kind of
Speaker 1: stuff in Lincoln Heights.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I would like to I would
Speaker 2: like to differentiate between an allegation and an actual provable fact.
Speaker 2: We have no evidence that that happened other than someone
Speaker 2: saying it happened. Again, if we have a picture, if
Speaker 2: we have an actual report a street of something for
Speaker 2: us to go investigate deputies have been called to certain
Speaker 2: areas and when they get there, they observe a man
Speaker 2: standing with an open carry. And what the message to everyone,
Speaker 2: not just Lincoln Heights, but everyone. Look, law enforcement is
Speaker 2: being as absolutely transparent about this and as anybody can,
Speaker 2: right because there are certain things that are under investigation.
Speaker 2: But every department that's been involved in this has released
Speaker 2: body cam, has addressed public people, have addressed public meetings.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're all working to push out this information
Speaker 2: to vilify the police, any police, any police officer, to
Speaker 2: vilify that person because that officer has not been given
Speaker 2: the tools by the Ohio state legislators to do something
Speaker 2: to make arrest in those situations, to confront people for IDs,
Speaker 2: which we can't demand an ID. We can't do the
Speaker 2: things that we would want to do. And I'm pleading
Speaker 2: with everyone to you know what, there's no reason to
Speaker 2: vilify police officers. I guarantee you no one was involved
Speaker 2: with the Nazis. No one knew this was coming. I've
Speaker 2: talked to numerous people, numerous chiefs all around Hamilton County.
Speaker 2: Every one of us is outraged, Every officer is outraged,
Speaker 2: and I'm begging people to please keep your head about this. Look,
Speaker 2: you know, we're doing what we can. If there's any
Speaker 2: way we can bring some of these men to justice
Speaker 2: who were spewing all of that hate speech and so forth,
Speaker 2: we will. But you know, there has to be a process.
Speaker 2: I don't care where we are or what department you're with.
Speaker 2: There's a process in government to make things happen and
Speaker 2: do things so you don't get sued, so people don't
Speaker 2: get shot and so forth, and people aren't injured. And
Speaker 2: our deputies and the officers that responded did everything they could,
Speaker 2: everything they knew to do to de escalate, and that's
Speaker 2: what we're trained for.
Speaker 1: Sheriff McGuffey, do you have a specific person in Lincoln
Speaker 1: Heights who's like a command or somebody in charge who's
Speaker 1: physically present daily or is it something on a nine
Speaker 1: to one one basis someone is sent there. Is there
Speaker 1: like a sub station or sheriff's deputy sitting there day
Speaker 1: by day or is it a nine to one one
Speaker 1: call then you go there.
Speaker 2: No, No, our station is manned, and it is in
Speaker 2: Lincoln Heights. It sits dead in Lincoln Heights, and it
Speaker 2: is it's a substation of type. Right, But that's where
Speaker 2: our officers are. Our patrol cars are there, our officers
Speaker 2: are in and out of that building. It is very
Speaker 2: very easy to be in Lincoln Heights and content at
Speaker 2: a patrol officer if you're there, if you come to
Speaker 2: the district, And those are things we encourage people to
Speaker 2: do if they have a complaint or they can make
Speaker 2: a call. One thing, I want to point out these
Speaker 2: nine one one calls, and I know nine one wants
Speaker 2: to be flooded with calls about men carrying weapons, men
Speaker 2: standing on a street corner armed with a rifle, and
Speaker 2: so forth. Look, you know, I have to tell people
Speaker 2: and I have to point them in the right direction.
Speaker 2: It's not the police. Those are your Ohio legislators that
Speaker 2: need to make better gun safety laws and whatever they're
Speaker 2: going to do. But as soon as they say it's
Speaker 2: okay to open carry, I mean our hands are tied.
Speaker 2: And I you know, whether you're a hate speech person
Speaker 2: a Nazi, which is you know, I just can't even
Speaker 2: say enough, how just disgusted I am with the Nazis
Speaker 2: and what their messaging is and so forth. I'm disgusted.
Speaker 2: But you can't differ centiate. You can't say, well, the
Speaker 2: Nazis get to carry open carry and nobody else does. Well,
Speaker 2: that's not realistic. And if we want to change the
Speaker 2: laws and we want to make this less of a
Speaker 2: wildlff wess, the Ohio legislators need to get together, get
Speaker 2: working and legislate this so that the police have some options.
Speaker 1: So if someone in Lincoln Heights at a Wendy's drive
Speaker 1: through has a person walking up to them appearing to
Speaker 1: want to look like a police officer, the photo looks
Speaker 1: like someone who might be a cop and wants to
Speaker 1: question them, that person, assuming it doesn't happen in the
Speaker 1: presence of a police officer, and most crime does not,
Speaker 1: that person's got to file a complaint and say, essentially, academically,
Speaker 1: that would be kidnapping. You can't point a gun at
Speaker 1: somebody and say unless you do something, something else is
Speaker 1: going to happen.
Speaker 2: Correct. Well, that's exactly right, Bill, That's exactly right. We
Speaker 2: need to know. We need a report because we need time,
Speaker 2: we need date, we need we need location, we need
Speaker 2: any witnesses we need we need all of that information
Speaker 2: so that we can follow this down. Listen, our officers
Speaker 2: and deputies in Hamilton County are incredibly courageous. They put
Speaker 2: themselves on the line every day, all day, and I'm
Speaker 2: asking the citizens to please respect that. I mean, we
Speaker 2: can't run down just because somebody you know, calls you,
Speaker 2: for instance, and says, hey, this happened to me, But
Speaker 2: yet we have no record of it, we have no report,
Speaker 2: we have no information. You know, it's ridiculous to think
Speaker 2: that somehow we're responsible for not responding.
Speaker 1: How about this one the incidents, there was an information
Speaker 1: on only on the fourteenth, a woman in a car,
Speaker 1: and that a man on the tenth, and last night
Speaker 1: an inquiry reporter indirectly or directly filed a complaint about
Speaker 1: the gunpointed at the reporter who's David Ferrera. And that's
Speaker 1: what you mentioned earlier and at this point, and are
Speaker 1: you going to thoroughly investigate these allegations of really crimes
Speaker 1: committed by Lincoln Heights or others who appear to be police,
Speaker 1: who point guns at people and say do something? Are
Speaker 1: you going to actively investigate that over the next few days.
Speaker 2: Of course I am, and I would do it whether
Speaker 2: it was in Lincoln Heights or Sycamore Township or anywhere
Speaker 2: else we patrol and every other police chief in this
Speaker 2: arena would do the same. You know, if we get
Speaker 2: a complaint which I have not seen or heard of
Speaker 2: any complaint that this reporter filed saying that someone pointed
Speaker 2: a gun at him, and I will, after this call,
Speaker 2: promise you, I will call the supervisors and majors and
Speaker 2: so forth and run this down to find out. But
Speaker 2: before you talk to me on the phone, I made calls.
Speaker 2: I talked to the lieutenant, the commander of Lincoln Heights.
Speaker 2: I talked to other majors. What have we seen? What
Speaker 2: has been reported? And the two things we just talked
Speaker 2: about were the only things. No one has alligated that
Speaker 2: a weapon has been Adam nobody.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, David Ferrara said that about two hours ago
Speaker 1: and off the air. I'll send you a cell phone
Speaker 1: number to expedite things. I have a text here from
Speaker 1: a police officer who says, are you tracking down the
Speaker 1: Neo Nazis because they used a U haul with a
Speaker 1: license plate from I think Kentucky. Is that something across
Speaker 1: state lines the FBI would do or is that something
Speaker 1: Are you interested in identifying the Neo Nazis at all?
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I addressed all of that bill
Speaker 2: in my press conference yesterday, and the purpose of the
Speaker 2: press conference was to clarify those things for the public. Right,
Speaker 2: there are certain things that we are allowed to do
Speaker 2: by law. There are other things that I have asked
Speaker 2: the county prosecutor to research and potentially investigate. I've talked
Speaker 2: to the lead special officer in the FBI for the
Speaker 2: Cincinnati Division and the Ohio Criminal Investigations of Bureau, and
Speaker 2: you know, I have tentacles out to all those people,
Speaker 2: and everyone's working in a legal way to do what
Speaker 2: they can do. And you know, we're working with other
Speaker 2: agencies that also track these hate crimes and so forth,
Speaker 2: that aren't policing agencies, so that they can share their
Speaker 2: information with us. Now, you know, that's the extent of
Speaker 2: what we can do, and I made that very clear.
Speaker 2: And you know, once again I want to emphasize the
Speaker 2: officers that respond to this were under extreme stress. You know,
Speaker 2: they were acting as they're trained to act, which is
Speaker 2: to de escalate, get these men out of the area.
Speaker 2: And again I call for people police stand down, do
Speaker 2: not threaten our officers, don't do things that escalate this.
Speaker 2: We're working as hard as we can, and there isn't
Speaker 2: one person I've talked to in uniform that isn't you know,
Speaker 2: absolutely on board. This was disgusting. It should never go on.
Speaker 2: And we're going to absolutely train and be better, you know,
Speaker 2: and hopefully I don't know, you know. Be not surprised
Speaker 2: is the way I should put it. Not surprised when
Speaker 2: this happens again, and will orchestrate our response, and well,
Speaker 2: I'm sure it will.
Speaker 1: I will. And lastly, you told me off there crime
Speaker 1: is down seventy percent on Lincoln Heights. Is that correct?
Speaker 1: So the last five to three or four, five, six,
Speaker 1: seven years are the crime rates way down?
Speaker 2: Yes? It is. In twenty fifteen, and I have these
Speaker 2: numbers prepared. We call it Part one, which is serious crimes, felonies, robberies, shootings, murders,
Speaker 2: anything like that. There were one hundred and three that
Speaker 2: were investigated and so forth in twenty fifteen, and now
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four there are sixty six. That's a
Speaker 2: reduction of about thirty five percent. For Part two crimes,
Speaker 2: which are misdemeanors excluding traffic, which would be like disorderly conduct,
Speaker 2: drug abuse, DUI, things like that. Uh, there were two
Speaker 2: hundred and sixty six that were investigated, and in fifteen,
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four there were one hundred and forty four.
Speaker 2: That's a forty five percent reduction. And that is where
Speaker 2: I get, you know, a conservative number of seventy percent.
Speaker 2: Crime is down seventy percent in Lincoln Heights. And it's
Speaker 2: not only just due to the police officers, which are
Speaker 2: doing a great job over there, all right, an excellent job,
Speaker 2: but it's also the community that's cooperating. The community wants
Speaker 2: crime down, and we've had great, great cooperation from the
Speaker 2: Lincoln Heights mayor from their council. We feel very comfortable
Speaker 2: talking to them, and you know they're helping with this
Speaker 2: with a lot of youth initiatives and things like that. So, yes,
Speaker 2: crime is down on Lincoln Heights.
Speaker 1: Fine, we got to go, But Sheriff McGuffey, thank you,
Speaker 1: and I'll share with you with his permission, the telephone
Speaker 1: number of the reporter who had a gun pointed at him.
Speaker 1: Also a guy named Jim Meister said that he lives
Speaker 1: in Lincoln Heights. Say he tell us this person quote,
Speaker 1: I'm calling the police, and that this person with the
Speaker 1: gun the rifle pointed at him and said we are
Speaker 1: the police, and so Jim Meister is another one. If
Speaker 1: he will step forward, raise his hands, go okay, this
Speaker 1: is what happened to me, This is who did it?
Speaker 2: Away you go, yep, report it to us. It will
Speaker 2: be investigated to the fullest, and if there has been
Speaker 2: a crime committed, we will certainly prosecute that to its fullest.
Speaker 1: Submit it to prosecutor's office and let's see what's happened
Speaker 1: to rest here it out. Hopefully crime is also down,
Speaker 1: but according to this reporter for the inquired, there have
Speaker 1: been numerous examples of guns pointed at people. And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna make you. I'll give you the number with his permission,
Speaker 1: and then if that happens away we go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Bill, and thank you very much. And in
Speaker 2: my appeal to the public, please make that clear, you know,
Speaker 2: give us a chance, give us some room. Are people
Speaker 2: that are wearing that uniform, they're people too, they have feelings,
Speaker 2: they're working hard, they work day and night. They're doing
Speaker 2: the right things.
Speaker 1: So thank you very much, Sheriff McGuffey, thank you very much.
Speaker 1: God bless you. Thank you very much. But let's continue
Speaker 1: with more news is next at Rome of the Reds
Speaker 1: News radio seven hundred WLW