City efforts to reduce crime at the downtown Cincinnati transit center appear to be working. New data from the Cincinnati Police Department shows violent crime in and around Government Square is down 50% compared to this time last year.
Young people tend to congregate at transit centers as they take Metro buses home from school. A few violent assaults near Government Square in early 2024 sparked public concern about youth violence. Not long after, a team led by Iris Roley of the Cincinnati Black United Front started spending time there to supervise and offer support.
That's grown into a regular program with dozens of partner organizations like City Gospel Mission, which distributes food at Government Square once a week.
Roley also consults for the city; she says youth violence is a solvable problem.
"This pot has been boiling for a long time, and so it's going to take us a minute to unravel and undo and replace [it] with stability and love and care and access to resources to help children and their families," Roley said.
Roley is seeking at least 50 more volunteers to help over the next 30 school days. Response teams hand out snacks, hygiene items, and information about other available resources. And, they attempt to de-escalate problems that could otherwise lead to a police response.
"Children are born into situations that they did not create and they have to navigate," Roley said. "We as the adults should be making the pathway smoother, easier, less blocking, with as much love and resources as possible."
Roley presented data from the Cincinnati Police Department to City Council's Public Safety and Governance Committee on Tuesday morning. The report says so far in 2024, police have arrested eight teens and filed 12 charges. The same time period last year, police arrested 24 teens and filed 27 charges.
The report says the 50% reduction in violent crime is significant, with just two incidents so far this year. Property crime, however, has increased; the CPD report shows seven incidents in the first quarter of both 2023 and 2024, and 13 in the first quarter of 2025.
The City Manager’s Office is expected to release a plan for summer safety within the next few weeks.
Read more:
