Seated behind his 8-ft. desk, Stanley Russell Schrotel looks like a corporation executive and talks like a university professor. But Stan Schrotel (rhymes with motel) is, in fact, a cop, a man who makes his living as Cincinnati's chief of police. And at a time when the rising wave of crime has become a major national problem, Police Chief Schrotel, 47, has earned the reputation of being just about the best cop in the U.S.
Like most big U.S. cities, Cincinnati has crime-breeding slums and shifting, often antagonistic population groups. Since Schrotel took office in 1951, U.S. crime has increased...