Efforts to create a safer environment in and around campus earned city-wide recognition when the University of Cincinnati Police Department was presented the CPOP Partnering Award at the second annual Community Problem Oriented Policing (CPOP) Awards Banquet.
The UC Police were recognized for their partnership with officers from the Cincinnati Police Department’s District Five.
Officers from UC and District Five have worked cooperatively, along with dozens of volunteers, on a number of crime prevention initiatives in the last two years, and, when measured, the results were significant.
For instance, a door-to-door distribution of crime prevention tips before winter break in 2004 resulted in a 74 percent decrease in thefts and a 49 percent reduction in serious crime overall in the targeted neighborhoods. Because of that success, the same program was repeated prior to last year’s break.
| From left, Gene Ferrara, Karen Patterson, Tammy Hussels and Thomas Johns. |
Those kinds of efforts earned the attention of the Community Police Partnering Center, which seeks to implement effective strategies for reducing crime and disorder while also fostering positive relationships and increased trust between the police and neighborhoods.
Specifically, the CPOP Partnering Award recognizes an effort that "shows outstanding dedication and progress to the integral partnering component in CPOP, in which communities, city officials and city police work together to better their communities."
"We are dedicated to the mission of keeping our students safe," says Capt. Karen Patterson of the UC Police, who is in charge of crime prevention efforts and has worked to strengthen the department’s partnership with District Five. "While it is nice to receive recognition for our efforts, our goal in partnering with students, the Cincinnati Police and the community around UC is to continue to place an emphasis on crime issues so that this becomes one of the safest areas of the city."
Crime trends in and around campus are headed in the right direction. In January, UC Police released data that show that over the previous three years, crime on campus decreased 35 percent, while crime in the neighborhoods just off of campus was down 25 percent.
Representing UC at the CPOP banquet were Patterson and UC Director of Public Safety Gene Ferrara. Representing District Five were Capt. Thomas Johns and Officer Tammy Hussels, the point person in working with Patterson to help create many of the joint projects the departments have cooperated on.
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