Gang Violence Down, But Police Still Fight Street Culture - WKRC TV Cincinnati

Gangs bring drugs crime and violence to our neighborhoods. Its become a scary fact of life, and in some cities it's getting worse. You might expect this in Chicago and Los Angeles but gang violence is also on the rise in smaller areas like Chattanooga and Oklahoma City.

Gang shootings and murders help analysts determine the direction a city is going. Local 12 News Reporter Deborah Dixon shows us how the numbers from last year indicate Cincinnati is going in the right direction.

Targeting gangs started in 2007 with Cincinnati's Initiative to Reduce Violence. In call-in sessions gang members are offered help to get out. If they don't police started building cases...strong ones. Some members of Tot Lot Gang for example are doing hard time for selling guns and drugs or life for murder. Lt. Col. James Whalen says, " Tot Lot used to be strong. Now there are six or seven cells, small number of guys call themselves Tot Lot. They don't have the power they used to have."

Making gangs powerless empowers communities. The partnership is more than a crime-fighting initiative. "It's not a budget item, it's the way we do work, its the the way we investigate violent crime."

UC'S Policing Institute Dr. Robin Engle works with Cincinnati Police on calculating gang violence. Numbers tell a story. Back in 2006 there were 57 gang member involved homicides in Cincinnati. Those numbers kept dropping until funding for CIRV was cut. Then the gang involved murders increased again. Funding was restored and last year, the city saw a huge drop in the violence deaths.

Dr. Engle also keeps track of whom is killing and why. She says it's mostly black men killing young black men. And its usually not about drugs. "That violence is not about the drug trade but disrespect- what it means to be a man on the street."

Some communities are working to change that culture. Evanston has a Boy Scout troop and the Bulldogs, a large youth football league. Avondale has a youth council, which is a leadership program . "There is a renaissance happening here, changing the culture of violence on the street."

In Avondale, residents got angry after 4 year old Kyren Landrum got caught in the crossfire of rival gangs last year as he walked from a neighborhood park to his home on Blair Avenue. Kyren survived being shot-Kohmen Kollie did not. The hard working man was walking from his Walnut Hills home in a neighborhood store in October when he was caught in the cross fire of bullets and killed.

Kollie's widow Arnetta says the excitement over a low murder rate rings hollow to her. "That doesn't matter to me. There are murders unsolved and my husband's is one of them."

Detectives say in this case, they are dealing with another culture of violence that needs to change-the street code of silence. "People know who did it, it would be enlightening for my children to know who actually pulled the trigger that killed him."

The June murder of Brian Thompson in Lower Price Hill is also unsolved. He was killed when robbers tried to steal his car. So numbers tell one story-the city is moving in the right direction. Broken families tell another story.

The CIRV initiative says it will take on gangs on the city's West side this year.