Speaker 1: Fifty five r C the talk station. Dan Carroll in
Speaker 1: for Brian Thomas. Want to thank Daniel Turner for being here.
Speaker 1: Always loved talking to that guy. I always enjoy having
Speaker 1: this guy on too. The main man at the FOP
Speaker 1: of Cincinnati Fraternal Order Police as Ken Cober, and Ken
Speaker 1: Cober is our guest this morning, and Ken Kober, thanks
Speaker 1: for being here.
Speaker 2: Always appreciate your time.
Speaker 3: Sir, Hey, good morning, Dan, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about this case.
Speaker 1: I don't know why this case just bothers me so much,
Speaker 1: but you know, last week, on last Saturday night on
Speaker 1: Short Vine, twenty five year old Kyle Merrick was standing
Speaker 1: there apparently minding his own business when he was confronted
Speaker 1: by some fifteen year old dude who accordingly, you know,
Speaker 1: when you look at the video, it looks like this guy, unprovoked,
Speaker 1: just pulled out a gun and stuck it in the
Speaker 1: midsection of twenty five year old Kyle Merrick, who attempted
Speaker 1: to run away. Turned out he had a weapon of
Speaker 1: his own, turned in fire, and then he in turn
Speaker 1: was shot by this fifteen year old. Now he's dead,
Speaker 1: his family is in mourning. And Ken Kober, it certainly
Speaker 1: appears that this fifteen year old had no business being
Speaker 1: on the streets whatsoever.
Speaker 3: Without a doubt.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's a senseless murder that absolutely could have
Speaker 4: been prevented.
Speaker 1: Talk about some of the criminal history over the last
Speaker 1: couple of days has started to come to light on
Speaker 1: this guy. Can you tell us a little bit about.
Speaker 4: That well, I mean it started at the age of
Speaker 4: thirteen thirteen and obstructing official business, running from the police
Speaker 4: recently escalated in November two in aggravated assault that was
Speaker 4: involved with the shooting improper or improper transportation I believe
Speaker 4: of a firearm and then discharging a firearm into a habitation.
Speaker 3: That's the case that he should have been help for.
Speaker 4: And unfortunately, on April second was released from EMU. They
Speaker 4: had already let him out of detention, but they put
Speaker 4: him on EMU, and they even released him from that
Speaker 4: on April second, and then here's Saturday.
Speaker 3: We have a tragedy. I mean, this is not really
Speaker 3: a surprise.
Speaker 4: This is I mean the very the basis of things
Speaker 4: that we see all the time. You know, little crimes
Speaker 4: that turn into big crimes real quick.
Speaker 1: Is it just me or does it seem like if
Speaker 1: you have someone who is thirteen years old and they have,
Speaker 1: between the ages of thirteen and fifteen, have sixteen separate
Speaker 1: contacts with the juvenile court system here in Hamilton County.
Speaker 1: Is it just me or does that seem like a
Speaker 1: lot or is that par for the course for a
Speaker 1: lot of these kids that get involved in the juvenile system.
Speaker 3: That is certainly in excess.
Speaker 4: But you know a lot of these things would have
Speaker 4: been prevented had there been actual consequences. I don't know
Speaker 4: on the first charge, the fifth charge, the tenth charge.
Speaker 4: It's something that there's absolutely no accountability whatsoever.
Speaker 3: So it doesn't surprise me that these kind of things
Speaker 3: are happening.
Speaker 1: Let me read to you a piece that I found
Speaker 1: on the WLWT website. This is from May of last year. Okay,
Speaker 1: last month, three teenagers were arrested after a woman was
Speaker 1: brutally attacked on a metro bus in Colerain Township. All
Speaker 1: three teenagers were released from the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention
Speaker 1: Center the same day. The same day, Juvenile Court Judge
Speaker 1: Kerry Bloom says there's only so much the law allows
Speaker 1: her to do. Quote, in juvenile court, we focus on rehabilitation,
Speaker 1: which is to include consideration of how do we make
Speaker 1: sure the kid doesn't do this again, how do we
Speaker 1: make sure we protect the community. You know, Ken Kober,
Speaker 1: It's one thing to have a judge say something like that.
Speaker 1: It is another thing when to my way of thinking,
Speaker 1: it is well within her power and her ability to
Speaker 1: prevent these sorts of things from happening, but she doesn't
Speaker 1: lift a finger to make any of that happen. Simply
Speaker 1: have these kids come in and then right back out
Speaker 1: the revolving door. And in this case, for teenagers who
Speaker 1: beat up a woman on a metro bus, they're out
Speaker 1: on the street the exact same day.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we've seen this time after time after time.
Speaker 4: You know, kids with gun charges, kids with violent felony
Speaker 4: offenses that are letting right out. We're not talking about,
Speaker 4: you know, a kid that stole a bag of chips
Speaker 4: from Kroger.
Speaker 3: Because he's hungry.
Speaker 4: We're talking about kids that are that are committing heinous,
Speaker 4: violent crimes that are endangering the community, and they're let
Speaker 4: right back out.
Speaker 3: And this, unfortunately, is the end result.
Speaker 4: You know, I feel terrible for you know, the Myrak
Speaker 4: family that they have to go through this, but they're
Speaker 4: just the latest.
Speaker 3: I mean, this happens time and time.
Speaker 4: Again where we have kids that are victimizing people or
Speaker 4: they're becoming victims of gun by themselves because the choices
Speaker 4: they make because they're let out of the juvenile court system.
Speaker 1: Unbelievable. Ken Kobra, we got to get a quick break
Speaker 1: in here. Can you hang around and I got a
Speaker 1: couple more questions for you on the other side. Sure,
Speaker 1: all right, Ken Kober, stay right there and we'll continue
Speaker 1: on with him on fifty five KRCV Talk stays. All right,
Speaker 1: fifty five KRCV Talk station, we continue our conversation with
Speaker 1: the FOP president, Ken Kober and Ken Kobra. You know
Speaker 1: it's not like this. This kid was on the fringes
Speaker 1: of the system. We are talking about this kid at
Speaker 1: the age of thirteen. He let's see, he was placed
Speaker 1: on probation. He was let's see, he was found guilty
Speaker 1: of attempted grand theft. He was on the property of
Speaker 1: Procter and Gamble running from police. He was this stay
Speaker 1: at the Ohio Department of Youth Services was suspended as
Speaker 1: long as he fought. He was supposed to follow these
Speaker 1: orders until he turned twenty one, but a few months later,
Speaker 1: in November twenty four, arrested again accused of receiving stolen property.
Speaker 1: He was on probation for the previous twenty twenty three offense.
Speaker 1: Was in the Hamilton County juvenile system. Also in November
Speaker 1: last year, in a case that is still pending, he
Speaker 1: was charged with aggravated assault while in possession of a
Speaker 1: gun and improperly discharging a firearm. So here's a kid
Speaker 1: that is obviously showing all sorts of signs of trouble,
Speaker 1: unable to follow the rules, obviously has no parental supervision,
Speaker 1: and they find this guy is eligible to be released
Speaker 1: and placed on GPS monitoring. Is how many cases are
Speaker 1: like this in the juvenile system right now?
Speaker 2: Do you have any idea?
Speaker 4: Far too many. It happens every day. They're releasing kids
Speaker 4: that are involved in gun violence. They're releasing kids that
Speaker 4: are just carrying weapons, just stealing cars, you name it,
Speaker 4: all the violent crime that's going on.
Speaker 3: It's pretty much, unless.
Speaker 4: You murder someone as a juvenile, you're going to be released.
Speaker 4: And that's the problem.
Speaker 1: Don't we have people that can look at this in
Speaker 1: any you know, so many times, you know, we've talked
Speaker 1: about government square and the bus situation down there, And
Speaker 1: I saw peace today where the arrests are down fifty
Speaker 1: percent in that area. So it seems to me that
Speaker 1: when an effort is made, a good faith effort is
Speaker 1: made to turn our attention to a specific situation, we
Speaker 1: can start seeing some results. But for some reason, whatever's
Speaker 1: going on in the juvenile system, and you've got these
Speaker 1: kids who are serious offenders at the age of fifteen.
Speaker 1: If you're you know, involved in stolen property and discharging
Speaker 1: a firearm and things like that, that to me seems
Speaker 1: like a serious thing. But yeah, we just sort of,
Speaker 1: you know, turn our heads at that and say, uh yeah,
Speaker 1: put them on a GPS monitor. Does a GPS monitoring
Speaker 1: system really serve any purpose at all? Does it really
Speaker 1: do any good at all?
Speaker 4: Only for those that are interested in actually following the law,
Speaker 4: because it's not something that's monitored twenty four hours a day, even.
Speaker 3: Though it's on you you know, you don't.
Speaker 2: They don't.
Speaker 4: You don't have a probation officer sitting in a room,
Speaker 4: you know, monitoring every GPS unit.
Speaker 3: They just it's impossible. They don't. They don't have the
Speaker 3: manpower to be able to do that.
Speaker 4: It just doesn't happen to I understand that this same
Speaker 4: juvenile was actually accused of cutting off his monitor once
Speaker 4: before or as it was, so it's not surprising that
Speaker 4: that things have escalated the way they have it.
Speaker 1: So, so what's the issue is it the people who
Speaker 1: make the decisions? Are is there not enough manpower to
Speaker 1: follow up on the If it seems to me, if
Speaker 1: someone cuts off a monitoring device, that should be uh
Speaker 1: you know that that that should be cause to have
Speaker 1: I don't know, a probation officer, someone from the court,
Speaker 1: may you know, make a visit to that individual you
Speaker 1: and find out what's going on. Are are we not
Speaker 1: able to do those sorts of things?
Speaker 4: Well, ISSU is not not finding these kids and arresting
Speaker 4: them issues keeping them, And it's these judges and magistrates
Speaker 4: that are making the decision that we're not going to
Speaker 4: keep these people. And unfortunately, this is what the the
Speaker 4: citizens of Hamilton County voted for.
Speaker 3: The Only way that we're going to have any kind
Speaker 3: of change is the next election.
Speaker 4: You find out what judges, you know, specifically these juvenile
Speaker 4: court judges, which ones are going to support law and order,
Speaker 4: which ones are going to take the safety of the
Speaker 4: community seriously, and those are who you have to vote for.
Speaker 4: That's the only way that these these things.
Speaker 3: Are ever going to change.
Speaker 1: So this happened on short vine. Is this totally being
Speaker 1: handled by UC police or our campus police involved in
Speaker 1: this as well?
Speaker 3: No, this is this is off campus.
Speaker 4: This is the Sinciet Police department is investigating this homicide.
Speaker 1: They're the ones that may be round Okay, yeah, because
Speaker 1: I mean literally, it's what one two blocks away from
Speaker 1: the campus that u se I didn't know if if
Speaker 1: if you had a role in this or not.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot of college kids that live in
Speaker 3: that area.
Speaker 4: But this was solely the jurisdiction of the City of
Speaker 4: Cincinnati's plice.
Speaker 1: All right, Ken Kober, is there any way to uh
Speaker 1: to uh let people know about the amount of frustration
Speaker 1: that that you have over issues like this? And what's
Speaker 1: the what's the disposition of this kid right now that
Speaker 1: he get hit? Is he is he in the hospital
Speaker 1: recovering from an injury right now? What's the disposition of
Speaker 1: this kid?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's my understanding.
Speaker 4: He is in custody, but I believe he's being treated
Speaker 4: for some injuries.
Speaker 3: And then I'll end up at twenty and we'll see
Speaker 3: how long he's.
Speaker 1: There, all right, And then I mean, if is there
Speaker 1: anything you want to say before we let you go
Speaker 1: that that they can make any sort of difference in
Speaker 1: this at all other than I mean you already talked
Speaker 1: about you know, you got to pay attention to who
Speaker 1: you're voting for sure.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's the biggest question I get is, you know,
Speaker 4: from citizens, from officers, the community is what can we do? Well?
Speaker 4: The answer is what you can do is get out
Speaker 4: and vote for people that are going to support law
Speaker 4: in order. That's that's ultimately what this is going to take.
Speaker 4: If you value safety in Hamilton County, you're going to
Speaker 4: have to vote for a judge that supports law in
Speaker 4: order and that that really really is the bottom line
Speaker 4: is you have to pay attention to who these people are,
Speaker 4: what they stand for, and make sure that you know
Speaker 4: they align with safety in Hamilton County. That's the only
Speaker 4: thing we're going to be able to get a safer county.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But if red flags like this sixteen contacts with the
Speaker 1: juvenile system, uh, you know you've got receiving stolen property,
Speaker 1: improper discharge of a firearm, possession of a firearm when
Speaker 1: you're already under disability. If those sorts of things don't
Speaker 1: raise red flags, what sorts of things do raise red flags?
Speaker 1: I mean, these are serious, These are serious offenses.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, you have to understand the magistrate that actually
Speaker 4: signed off on releasing this juvenile from EMU was also
Speaker 4: the same magistrate that told a child that ran from
Speaker 4: Coleraine Townships Police Department that sometimes there is a need
Speaker 4: just to get away from the police. So with that
Speaker 4: kind of ideology, what do you expect. That's exactly what's
Speaker 4: coming out of the juvenile court system.
Speaker 2: For God's sake.
Speaker 1: All right, Ken Kober, as always, I appreciate the time,
Speaker 1: keep up the great work and stay safe out there.
Speaker 2: Brother. We'll talk to you again, saying I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks for having me, Dan Pick.
Speaker 1: All right, there you go, Ken Kober from the FOP
Speaker 1: sixteen contacts with the juvenile system, improper discharge of a firearm,
Speaker 1: receiving stolen property. These are very very serious things. And
Speaker 1: now this kid is again innocent until proven guilty. But
Speaker 1: you've seen the video, looks like he actually you know,
Speaker 1: is wound up being involved and is charged with murder
Speaker 1: now of a twenty five year old guy, father and
Speaker 1: Kyle Merrick. It can only imagine the hell their family
Speaker 1: is going through, and all because of some judge or
Speaker 1: some magistrate who is just looking at this in the
Speaker 1: completely wrong way. We got to get to a break.
Speaker 1: Dan Carroll for Brian Thomas fifty five KRC, The Talk Station.
Speaker 2: Fifty five KRC, The talk station you don't