Suspects accused of having sex in Cincinnati parks after police sting
An undercover sting operation by Cincinnati Police has resulted in multiple arrests of people accused of having sex in city parks.
Mt. Airy Forest was targeted by the sting due to the high number of people engaging in sexual acts there over the last few years, according to Fraternal Order of Police President Sgt. Dan Hils.
“Don’t come to our city parks and engage in this behavior,” Hils said. “This is a quality of life issue.”
Police have video of the arrests, but Hils says the department decided against releasing them after an overture from city hall.
The prosecutions will proceed, according to Mayor Aftab Pureval.
“But I’ve been very clear,” Pureval said in a prepared statement, “that given the historic rise in gun violence in our community, our sources should be specifically targeted at preventing and prosecuting violent crime and that we should look for opportunities to cite nonviolent offenses to court rather than directing resources towards shaming people or jailing nonviolent offenders.”
Those like Walt Hitchens understand why the city might not want to publicize the videos.
Hitchens says he’s frequented Mt. Airy Forest for years without ever encountering people having sex.
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I lived in Cincinnati 16 years. Cincy has a drug (opioid central) and gun murder issue (although in fairness, that’s always largely a big city issue, and Cincy is a big city, and quite frankly, mostly limited to the poor minority neighborhoods where gangs and drugs are more readily found). It is where I got my start in this activism gig. So even though I no longer live there, I keep up with and understand the local politics.
Pureval originally ran for Clerk of Courts and he used a very cheesy ad campaign using a ripoff Aflak duck going “Aftab.” Real cringeworthy but it made him memorable.
While he made public safety a key talking point his focus was on violnt crime, so it is good he spoke out the way he did. There are indeed bigger issues in Cincinnati than a coupole of people getting it on an a city park (and Mt Airy is an extremely large park).
The last mayor, John Cranley, was a piece of excrement that voted for the Cincinnati local residency restriction laws that I fought to get my start in this anti-registry movement.