UC Issues Request for Proposals to Conduct Top-to-Bottom Police Department Review

Earlier this week, the University of Cincinnati issued a

request for proposals

(RFP) seeking a comprehensive review of the UC Police Department (UCPD).

According to Robin Engel, vice president for safety and reform, the purpose of the review will be to examine current policies, procedures, practices and training, and to identify best practices in these areas as well as plan a course for reform efforts.

“The university is committed to ensuring that UCPD is engaging in effective, efficient and equitable policing, while simultaneously rebuilding trust with our university and community members,” Engel said. “This review will serve as a roadmap for reform and a guide to develop UCPD into a national model for urban campuses. We are committed to that goal.”

The current timeline for selecting an outside, independent reviewer is late January 2016. The results of the subsequent professional research, reviews and data analysis as well as reviewer’s recommendations would, according to the current timeline, be due in mid-May 2016.

This RFP was issued after UC’s recently established

Safety and Reform Community Advisory Council

(CAC) provided input.

The issuance of the RFP is the latest action taken by the university as part of its reform efforts following the fatal shooting of Samuel DuBose. Other reform action steps have included

• Ongoing effort to create a revamped Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between UCPD and the Cincinnati Police Department detailing how policing will occur in and around UC’s Uptown Campus.

• Establishment of the Safety and Reform Community Advisory Council. The first meeting of that council was Oct. 27.

• All UC Police officers received training in fair and impartial policing, and a presentation about that training and the science of bias was also held for community members.

• The university proactively contracted with Kroll Inc., one of the nation’s leading investigative firms, to conduct an independent review of all UC police actions related to the July 19 shooting death of Samuel DuBose. Results of that report were released in September.

• In August, UC hired a team of experts to lead safety and reform efforts.

• That same month, UC implemented an early warning system to flag patterns of officer behavior, such as use of force, for review. Contact cards were also implemented to track the gender and race of all pedestrian and traffic stops by UC Police.

Visit the

Safety and Reform website

.