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Broadcast – Midnight Basketball

The hard truth is there have been 165 shootings and 50 homicides in Cincinnati this year. But don’t be too concerned, because we’ve got midnight basketball! Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell doesn’t believe in band-aids like putting more cops on the street or quick fixes like stop and frisk, which cut crime in New York City. No, 16 of his staff members are running a youth basketball program. Why waste time investigating murders and rapes, when they can organize something called “Hoops, Heart and Hope?”

According to Blackwell, gun violence being up means more “community engagement,” not tough policing. He’s got his cops fixing up apartment buildings and brags they know kids by name, just like in “Mayberry” from that old TV show. You probably thought officers should be patrolling your neighborhood instead of playing Andy Griffith, but that’s not the Chief’s style. He’s a root causes kind of guy.