About a hundred people attended a meeting on Downtown public safety Tuesday night, organized by the Downtown Residents Council. Even more people stood just outside the meeting room at the Downtown Library, denied entrance because the room had met maximum capacity.
The meeting was announced earlier this month, scheduled in response to a recent uptick in violent crime; a viral video of a brawl over the weekend likely contributed to the high attendance.
Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge addressed the viral fight, announcing two of the five people charged in the incident are in custody now, and a third is likely to be in custody by Wednesday afternoon.
“It makes me sick to watch it over and over again on national news,” Theetge said. “I do not like Cincinnati being portrayed in a negative light on the national news. We can do better.”
Theetge went on to say she will not tolerate “lawlessness” in Cincinnati, and said she is working to get such lawlessness under control.
“I also want to emphasize there is no room for politics in law enforcement,” Theetge said, prompting applause in the room. “The work is still being done. We are not finished. But we are operating in a neutral zone until all the facts are known to us.”
City Manager Sheryl Long says she will always speak out against violence, but she will not let this incident define the city.
“The Cincinnati I know, the Cincinnati that is my hometown, the Cincinnati that raised me to be the person that I am, is beautiful. It’s thriving,” Long said. “We are good people who care so much that we want to make sure that you hold us accountable, but you do it in a way that is in the spirit of teamwork.”
Mayor Aftab Pureval spoke briefly via video call; the other panelist at the event was 3CDC CEO Steve Leeper.
One attendee, Beverly Thomas, lived in Clifton for decades before moving Downtown five years ago.
“It’s changed dramatically from what it was 40 some years ago when I first moved here,” Thomas said. “We are recognized as a city that people want to come to. But it doesn’t take much for that to change.”
Thomas says she attended the meeting to learn more about what the city is doing to respond to crime, and to find more ways to get involved. She says Chief Theetge seems to have a handle on what she wants to get done.
“I hope that this doesn't just end here with a lot of talk, that people will follow through, and more action will occur,” Thomas said. “And people will not just be complaining about everything that is going wrong instead of trying to actively get something to get better, to improve.”
CPD data shows that so far this year, violent crime is 28% higher in the Central Business District/Riverfront compared to the same time period last year. In real numbers, that means 12 more robberies and seven more aggravated assaults; no change in strangulation (two); and decreases in homicides (none compared to two in 2024), and rape (three compared to six in 2024).
Comparing the most recent 28 days (June 29 to July 26) to the immediately previous 28 days, violent crime Downtown is unchanged while property crimes are down nearly 41%.
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