An Uneasy Calm In A Troubled City

By Laura Randall/Cincinnati

On Sept. 26 Cincinnati Police Officer Steven Roach was found not guilty of negligent homicide in the shooting of Timothy Thomas, 19, whose death touched off three days of riots in late April. "I still don't know the truth," said Thomas' mother, Angela Leisure. "I still have no satisfaction." Leisure has filed wrongful-death and civil rights suits naming the police and Roach. Scattered violence followed the verdict, and Mayor Charlie Luken imposed a curfew. But the city has largely remained calm.

Calm, but not serene. Roach was one of three white officers recently acquitted of crimes against black men killed in confrontations with Cincinnati cops--outcomes that did nothing to heal the city's racial rifts. "You've got a lot of African Americans who won't give the officers a chance to change, and you have a lot of officers who won't let African Americans change. How do you bridge that gap?" asks Walter White, an African-American resident.

The mayor, who recently won re-election, is trying to do that through a committee of business and local leaders called Community Action Now. Says he: "While we're not the Promised Land, we're making great progress and moving in the right direction. I think everyone's tired of fighting." Still, the effort is off to a bumpy start. White recently canned the most outspoken can member, the Rev. Damon Lynch, after he called for an economic boycott of the city. In addition, the chairman of the Citizen's Police Review Panel, Keith Borders, resigned, citing the city's lack of cooperation. "The administration and the police chief and the police division refuse to be held accountable," says Borders.

The city is now negotiating settlement of a racial-profiling suit against the police, filed before the riot. A proposal for new policies and procedures is expected early next year. The cops are also considering changes based on an analysis by the Justice Department. Among the areas under review: training, record keeping and use of force.

--Reported by Laura Randall/Cincinnati