Thousands of Cincinnati residents are finding letters in their mailboxes from a new group asking for money to mount a campaign to support Cincinnati police.

        The appeal, from a group calling itself the Greater Cincinnati Support Your Police Committee, warns that the city, which is facing a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into police practices, could lose control of its local police force to the federal government.

        “Our city neighborhoods need police protection from criminal gangs,” the fund-raising letter reads. “We do not need radical rioters coming into Cincinnati from California, Chicago and Washington, D.C.”

        The letter is signed by the group's organizers, Ronald E. Kitchen, a financial planner from Blue Ash, and Joanne Kemmerer, a parochial school teacher from Mount Airy who has run for state representative and is active in anti-abortion politics.

        It also contains the names of 16 “supporters,” including all five Republican candidates for Cincinnati council: incumbents Pat DeWine and Chris Monzel and challengers Todd Ward, Tom Jones and Sam Malone.

        The rest are small-business owners and several community council leaders.

        Mr. Kitchen said 10,000 to 15,000 copies of the letter were mailed to business owners, Cincinnati residents and others.

        The committee has no specific amount it wants to raise with the letter, Mr. Kitchen said, “but we could do an awful lot with $100,000.”

        The purpose of the letter, Mr. Kitchen said, is to raise money to send more mass mailings to Cincinnati residents to “educate them and drum up support for the police.”

        “We are just trying to call attention to what is happening out there,” Mr. Kitchen said. “By and large, people in Cincinnati don't realize the danger of all of these investigations of the police. We want to keep our police force independent and local.”

        The letter said the city of Pittsburgh “surrendered” to a federal consent decree to avoid racial profiling litigation. Cincinnati, too, has agreed to a collaborative process on racial profiling aimed at avoiding a lawsuit. Two of the Support Your Police Committee's “supporters,” Mr. DeWine and

        Mr. Monzel, voted for the collaborative process.

        Mr. Kitchen said the group was not formed at the urging of any political or police organization. It is, he said, “just a group of interested citizens.”

        Mr. DeWine and Mr. Monzel said they were asked by Ms. Kemmerer to have their names attached to the letter.

        Asked if he agreed with the content of the letter, Mr. DeWine said he “did not review the letter before it went out. Let's put it that way.”

        Mr. Monzel said he saw “various drafts” of the letter before it was mailed last week.

        “From what I gather, this is just a group that wants to raise awareness,” Mr. Monzel said. “I agree. I don't think we want a federal judge ending up choosing who our police chief will be.”

Many drivers risk blowouts
Divided court won't stop execution
Graham crusade likely in June
Blanchester vows to keep searching for body
Rights at issue in poison case
Letter asks money for supporting police
Over-the-Rhine apartments new, improved
Flower boxes decorate Over-the-Rhine
Dog licenses cost more
Reading promotes new image
Union joins call for job training
Woman's home fix-up proceeds
College Hill may get Children's psych unit
Congrats
Doctor-choice idea adds to cost
Fairfield sign restriction to be dropped
Four charged in school vandalism
In the schools
Local Digest
Newport on the Levee just for fun
United Way drive begins in N.Ky.
Democratic chief sighs over Lucas votes
Florence prepares for Y'all Festival
Ky. agencies end public prayers
Ky. Education Notes
Cops encounter language barrier
Kentucky Digest
Ohio high court upholds Cincinnati death penalty case
School eyed by preservationists closed