MAKE HOMICIDES TARGET NO. 1

Cincinnati's homicide toll hit a 26-year high with Monday's 75th
killing of the year - matching 2003's total - and there's still more
than a month to go in 2005. This same week, Cincinnati was ranked in
Morgan Quitno Press's annual ratings as the nation's 20th most
dangerous city out of 369.

Most of us who live and work here know Cincinnati is still a safe
city; the homicides are chiefly drug-related; more than half occurred
in only five neighborhoods; and metro Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky
still scores at about the national average for safety. Even Morgan
Quitno ranks our metro in the center of the pack at 163rd safest out of 330.

But Cincinnati's record pace for violent deaths signifies failure of
various sorts, and only a determined counterattack on many fronts
will bring down the killing rate. Brush it off, explain it away with
statistics or dismiss it as a false impression, and nothing changes.

More than just Cincinnati's image suffers. The hit to the regional
economy can be long-lasting, because even if the urban core is only
"perceived" as unsafe, suburbs and nearby counties may also lose
conventions, shoppers and other visitors. We're all in this together.

Hamilton County Coroner Dr. O'dell Owens, like the police, pegs the
drug link with homicides at close to 90 percent, and he remains
skeptical about Cincinnati's dangerousness. "I just don't buy that,"
he said. "If we're going to go into Over-the-Rhine and look for drugs
at midnight, you're going to have a problem."

He should know; he has to take the bodies. But this year we have also
seen enough cases of innocent bystanders mortally wounded to know
this isn't just about drug thugs killing other drug thugs. It's not
just a defeat for the Police Department for being unable to put the
local drug trade out of business. This resurgent homicide toll may
foremost represent a failure of the killers' families, but it's also
a failure of City Hall leadership, and a failure of the schools to
keep young people in classrooms, see that they graduate and move on
to higher education or constructive jobs.

Some may take comfort in knowing the killings aren't in their
neighborhoods. Over-the-Rhine and Avondale accounted for 10 each.
Walnut Hills had nine. Bond Hill and the West End had five each. Fay
Apartments alone accounted for three.

But it's certainly no comfort to the victims' families, nor to decent
folks in those neighborhoods afraid to go out after dark. Historic
districts such as Over-the-Rhine also house some of this region's
most prized cultural institutions. A climbing homicide rate may be
the biggest single threat to 3CDC's plans to restore OTR to a vibrant
neighborhood again.

Recovery starts with residents joining with police to sweep violent
criminals off the streets. It starts with residents being fed up
enough to tell - to finger the gunmen and drug pushers. Cops,
prosecutors and judges need to be just as fed up. And the homicides
ought to be at the top of Mayor-elect Mark Mallory's punch list.