Morale Rearmament

The policeman's lot--poor pay, long hours, constant danger, public abuse--is not a happy one. Not even in Cincinnati, which is surprising in light of the fact that after 15 years of tight and intelligent control by Police Chief Stanley Shrotel, the force was considered one of the best in the nation.

Behind Shrotel's efficiency and reputation lurked a penny-pinching city council, which consistently refused to approve funds for new communications equipment, more cars, more men. Where Cincinnati had once paid its police force better than any other major Ohio city, by last year it was paying the least. Over the years, the trouble had taken its toll. In 1961, 5% of the men retired as soon as they became eligible at 52, or simply resigned; by 1965, the number had climbed to 10%. Applicants also fell off. Last year Chief Shrotel, earning $17,400 a year, resigned to take a job (and a $7,600 raise) as chief security officer of a grocery chain.

To the People. Even before he left, cops lower down the line felt something had to be done. Sergeant William Berry, president of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, decided that "we had a greater purpose than just going to parties and drinking beer." He hired a law firm to bridge the gap between the civil service cops and their city employers. Then he retained Bonsib, Inc., a Fort Wayne, Ind., public relations company. "We needed to get the man on the street to understand the police and their problems," explained Berry. Bonsib began by drawing up a 28-page, how-to-win-friends-for-cops course (sample tip: "Take advantage of every opportunity to publicly show policemen in non-badge-and-gun situations"). Next came a request to City Manager William Wichman to open wage negotiations. When he refused, Bonsib recommended citizens' petitions, house-to-house calls by police, letters to the editors.

But the city council was slow to get the message. Then Shrotel resigned. At the same time, the city was in growing terror of a rapist-strangler who had claimed three victims (TIME, Oct. 21).* Major crime was up more than 25% over the previous year. "Just what the hell is going on around here?" thundered Republican City Councilman Jake Held. "What we used to call a crime wave is now accepted as a way of life. This is intolerable." Held opened a six-week hearing. At the end of it, he had some inescapably specific suggestions for the city council: an immediate $1,000 raise, an end to the requirement that all cops live within city limits, a permanent crime commission, the hiring of 91 new policemen.

Public support was vigorous. Community committees marched on police stations, bearing praise and gifts. The council granted the raise last January. The city decided to go for 100, not 91, new patrolmen, has already recruited 52. Last week the council voted to abolish the residency requirement, and this week is expected to okay a permanent commission. "True citizen cooperation, that Utopia when a citizen calls us when he sees a crime, has improved 100% in the last year," says Sergeant Berry. "The only sad thing," says new Chief Jacob Schott, 51, "is that you have to have something like a strangler to get people stirred up." But Councilman Held plans to keep things well stirred. "It's the politicians, including myself, who were blind and didn't back Shrotel," he admitted. "Schott and his men are going to get backing."

* There were three more rape-killings before police arrested a local ex-cab driver. There have been no additional ones since his arrest.

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