Dayton hospital drops funding for officers

Community-based programcost $2.9M over last 10 years.

MiamiValley Hospital has spent nearly $2.9 million on policing the Historic South Park, Fairgrounds and Rubicon neighborhoods.

Miami Valley Hospital has decided to cease funding a pair of community-based police officers who have served the Historic South Park, Fairgrounds and Rubicon neighborhoods for nearly two decades.

The hospital says the neighborhoods have seen a steep drop in crime in the last 10 years and a supplemental police presence is no longer necessary. The hospital has spent nearly $2.9million on the program since its inception, city documents show.

“The hospital has fulfilled its goal to stabilize these neighborhoods, and we feel area residents will be well-served going forward by police staffing levels provided by the Dayton Police Department that are typical in other Dayton neighborhoods,” said Mark Shaker, president of Miami Valley Hospital.

The community-based police program has helped deter and solve crimes and made the surrounding areas safer, which is why the neighborhood is searching for other funding to keep it intact, according to some local neighborhood and community representatives.

“We in South Park strongly believe that this program should continue and that a decline in the excellent police service that we rely upon will be detrimental to our neighborhood and the surrounding area,” said Matthew Klempner, president of Historic South Park Inc.

In 1998, the hospital and Dayton Police Department’s second district formed a “Good Neighbor Partnership” that placed two police officers in the Fairgrounds and South Park areas.

In the late 1990s, rooming houses and transient residents outnumbered homes and homeowners in the Fairgrounds Neighborhood. Crime was higher in the area.

The city of Dayton, the University of Dayton and Miami Valley Hospital teamed up to make investments to eliminate blight, build new housing, improve