LRAD video LRAD in yet another town.
local12.com
Cincinnati community leaders work with police to ensure a peaceful Martin Luther King Day parade on Monday. Cincinnati Police say a hate group has threatened to spoil the festivities. Police say the group will not likely follow through on its threats. But in this developing story, Local 12's Angela Ingram says it has created an opportunity to forge new ties between police and community leaders.
The annual event honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King is normally peaceful in downtown Cincinnati. But, this year, police say a hate group threatened to rain on the parade. So, officers invited more than 30 community leaders to do crowd control training.
Lt Col James Whalen, Assistant Police Chief: "This involved a parade and a large community involvement in an important event in the community, we decided to include the community in the policing of the event."
Police say the group likely won't appear, but this gives them an opportunity to share important ideas with community leaders. .Exposing them to the mounted patrol....and a machine that breaks-up crowds called the lrad.
"This is a test of the long range acoustic device."
While the police are trained to deal with any violent confrontations that may come up, the role of the community leaders is really to diffuse them before they start.
Lorna Wilson, Human Relations Commission: "When we have this many people from different organizations that want to come together and want to make something happen that's positive and keep our communities under control, it's a wonderful thing."
Stan Ross, Youth Streetworker Program: "Make sure the MLK Day is a successful celebration. It's good to see the diversity of all the people that are participating."
"You can't fight without two people, if we can peacefully walk one person away before they get too upset there's no fight."
Police and civilians say these lessons in non-violence can work in any volatile situation, much like the teachings of Martin Luther King.
Angela Ingram, Local 12.
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