Cincinnati mayor to introduce legislation to mandate bias training

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - After seeing body camera videos of two Cincinnati officers calling people the N-word in separate incidents, Mayor John Cranley says more training is needed. "We all know that racism is the original sin of American history and the use of the N-word is unacceptable," Cranley said. Officer Dennis Barnette, who is white, is accused of calling a woman the slur during an altercation in Roselawn. Officer Donte Hill, who is African-American, is accused of calling a group of people the slur in September. Hill was initially given a reprimand, but last week, Hill was placed on desk duty after the police chief wrote a memo saying Hill's behavior was as egregious as Barnette's. Chief Eliot Isaac said, "I personally, as the leader of this organization, apologize that that word was ever used. Again, I know the significance of it. I've felt that sting both personally and professionally." The mayor's emergency ordinance calls for all city workers, including police, to get explicit and implicit bias training. "This affects all of us, and when we are in need, we don't want the people that are coming to rescue us, whether it be firefighters, police officers or whoever, to make prejudicial assumptions because it could hurt that chance of us surviving," Cranley said. In October, the city manager put a harsher punishment in place for incidents like this. The punishment for the first offense is 40 hours docked pay and more training. A second violation will get a city employee fired. Isaac said, "I don't want the work of the other over a thousand officers that are out here on a daily basis doing an exceptional job to be judged by the mistakes of a few." Some have been calling for the officers to be fired immediately. That will not happen. They are city employees and, therefore, are entitled to due process, which includes administrative hearings. The emergency ordinance goes to the Law and Public Safety Committee next week. Then it will go on to full council for a vote.