FBI chief: Inner city violence surge concerning
KENWOOD -The nation's top federal law enforcement official said Wednesday that violent crime is escalating in inner cities across the country, and that local and federal agencies need to band together to figure out the causes and how to stop it.
FBI executive director James B. Comey also said that his agency stands ready to help local departments with more intelligence and analysis tools.
He said that while many outside the inner city think they can avoid the issue by just "driving around" the affected areas, the escalating violence "affects younger men of color killing each other ... and there are no lives that do not matter."
Through early September, total shootings were up more than 30 percent in Cincinnati for 2015 compared to that same point in 2014. And Comey said that Cincinnati isn't alone seeing such a surge in violent crime, noting that other similarly-sized Midwestern cities such as Columbus, Milwaukee and Louisville are seeing similar trends along with large cities such as Chicago and Washington, D.C.
"There are cities with nothing in common where this is happening," said Comey, who was appointed to a 10-year term in 2013. "We have hit historic lows for violent crime recently, and if we let it slide back, we will need to explain to those who come after us what we did or didn't do to let that happen."
Comey visited the local FBI field office as part of a nationwide tour of all 56 such offices. It's the second such circuit he has made since taking over the agency. In addition to meeting with local FBI officials, Comey also met with local law enforcement representatives, including Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil.
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Comey said he has no definitive reasons for the uptick in shootings, but said there are several potential factors including:
- The ever expanding heroin epidemic, which Comey blamed on Mexican drug cartels that are growing pure heroin cheaply, offering addicts a less expensive alternative to pain pills. Comey sees no end in sight for the growth in heroin use "given the economics of the business right now."
- The fact that many police and sheriff departments nationally are short-handed.
- A "YouTube" and "gangbanger" culture that treats guns as if they were fashion accessories. He pointed out that the increase in shootings has included a surge in multivictim incidents, meaning more shootouts. There were several such incidents in Cincinnati over the summer, including an August shootout in Madisonville that left two dead and five injured.
Comey said the FBI was stepping up efforts through its violent crime task forces in conjunction with local police departments, and said that field offices should start offering intelligence officers and analysts to the problem.
"I'm not here announcing any big initiative or program ... but we have a lot of smart people who we brought on board after 9/11 who may be able to help look at the issue differently," Comey said. "We definitely need to bring more folks to bear."
When it comes to battling terrorism, Comey said that the fight has shifted from battling "traditional" organizations such as al-Qaida to more sophisticated social media campaigns by the Islamic State to target disaffected youth.
One such recruit was Christopher Lee Cornell of Green Township, who was arrested in January for conspiring to wage "a violent jihad" on the Capitol in Washington, which would have included shooting as many as he could.
"It's hard to monitor and combat this when it's buzzing in someone's pocket on their phone," Comey said. "We have active investigations going on in 50 states, so this is a major issue for us. And we need to find a way to find out who's listening to this and who is going to act on it. There are hundreds if not thousands of these conversations going on.
"But if we identify you going along with this garbage and planning to act on it, we will put you in jail for life."