UC Police Open New Substation, Add Patrols

University of Cincinnati police will have a greater presence at the Academic Health Center in 2013 with the opening of a new police substation and the addition of two new patrol areas to campus.

The new substation will be located in Logan Hall, across Albert Sabin Way from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and adjacent to the Cardiovascular Research Center. It is the main location for Central Clinic, which is a community mental health center and the outpatient training arm for the department of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience.

The space will officially open Friday, Feb. 8, with an open house from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to stop by and meet with UCPD officers during that time.

The added patrols are part of a redesign in operations after University of Cincinnati Medical Center ended its contract with UC police in 2012.

"The rearrangement of our services on the medical campus gave us back about 30 percent of our department,” says UC Assistant Police Chief Jeff Corcoran, "so one of the things we did was to increase patrol strength to the Academic Health Center campus. We added two additional foot beats on the campus—but those new officers have to have a home base.”

Corcoran says the new substation will provide officers with a place to fill out incident reports, make calls or eat meals. 

The added patrols bring the total UC police presence to three officers covering the Academic Health Center—including the four health colleges, the CARE/Crawley Building, the Health Professions Building, Kettering Labs, University Hall, the Kingsgate Marriott Conference Center (owned by UC), the Hoxworth Building, the Vontz Center, Eden Garage and Logan Hall. 

"Our goal is for people to see us in the buildings,” says Corcoran. "There are researchers and students here 24 hours a day and they’d like to see us more often. Previously, we didn’t have the people to provide more coverage, but now we do.”

Corcoran says that while there is an increased perception of crime on campus, overall crime levels are down, particularly in areas surrounding campus. The most commonly reported crime on the AHC is theft.

"We’re hoping that our increased visibility can deter some of this crime,” says Corcoran, "but we can also get around and talk to people and remind them about those issues.” 

He says the patrolling officers will not be stationed at Logan Hall full time. If you need to reach UC Police on campus, call 513-558-1111. For emergencies, call 911.