Lincoln Heights and surrounding communities are in the opening moments of a movement to remove the Cincinnati Police Department Target Range that has been in operation for the last 70 years in earshot of the community. The land that the range resides is considered Evendale, OH by location but is owned outright by the City of Cincinnati. The gun range operates Monday through Saturday and gun shots can be heard from as early as 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM in accordance with Ohio law. According to their Facebook page, this is also the site where they complete K-9 training for the department. Guns that are fired range from handguns to shotguns to AR-15 style rapid-fire weaponry and can be heard loudly echoing through the Village of Lincoln Heights, City of Lockland, and the City of Woodlawn. It is customary for children and adults to hear gunfire and be completely unmoved by its duration or ferocity given its normalization. Mayors of these communities have begun a new push to have the range removed as seen in the following articles:
Noise from Cincinnati Police Shooting Range Like ‘War Zone’ - WCPO
Communities to Cincinnati: Move Your Police Firing Range - WXIX
This range, which has continued to operate despite ongoing noise complaints and repeated requests for removal has residual impacts on the surrounding communities of Lincoln Heights and Woodlawn, which its land borders, as well as Lockland and in various parts of Evendale, Reading, and Wyoming. The focus is on the communities with no natural sound barriers and those within direct proximity would cannot limit the noise. For example, most of Evendale and Reading benefits from I-75 and their industrial businesses, and Wyoming and Glendale are not affected in the same way given the distance from the range. In Lincoln Heights and Woodlawn, which are primarily African-American, it literally sounds like a “war zone” as there have, seemingly, been no restrictions placed on the types of guns CPD officers can fire or limits on the number of rounds that can be discharged. There has also been blatant disregard by the Fraternal Order of Police for the well-being of the community when challenged to move the range. The article below highlights attempts from Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls to move the range 20 years ago and an incident of clear danger posed by its existence which was mocked as a “smokescreen,” an unimaginable retort.
Police Once Scoffed at Gun Hazard - CItyBeat
Outside of the noise pollution and impacts on public health, the range itself is not secure enough to stop a persistent child from accessing the range – I know many who considered it a game to collect the bullets and/or shell casings after a quick hop of the six-foot fence. Given the desensitization and/or lack of fear that is normally associated with youth hearing gunshots, there is no reasonable expectation that youth who grow up in these conditions would fear gunshots without seeing a weapon. This is the unfortunate reality for past and current youth living in the area. Moreover, the impacts on the neurological and psychological development of those living in these communities that rival the experiences of military personnel fighting in the Middle East and other war-torn areas.
With everything considered, Lincoln Heights has a wealth of issues that need to be addressed in order to move the community closer to repair. Healing must be our focus to move forward academically, behaviorally, emotionally, psychologically, and socially as a community. Though there is a matter of culpability in this case, but that is a matter for the municipalities to handle. Our goal is to initiate the call for amble and deliberate consideration given to studying these conditions and this unique and troubling tale of one of the only suburban open-air shooting ranges controlled by one of the largest police forces in America – a landmark case and study.
