A new police walking patrol has been launched in Over-the-Rhine, focused on police visibility and combating non-violent kinds of crime in the area.
At a press conference on Tuesday held by the city, Police Chief Teresa Theetge, Mayor Aftab Pureval and City Manager Sheryl Long discussed updated city violence prevention strategies. According to Theetge, there has been an overall decrease in violent crime within the last 28 days in Cincinnati.
“Our real true effort was to stabilize and stop the rise,” Theetge said at the conference. There is typically a rise in crime during the summer months, partially attributed to the warmer days and school being out, according to Long. Many of these new violence prevention strategies have been focused on targeting youth violence.
One of the prevention strategies discussed was a new Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) Walking Patrol. The walking patrol officially started July 21 at 4 p.m. in the Main Street and Vine Street quarters of OTR, according to Theetge. Two officers each will now patrol the Main Street and Vine quarters from 4 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday, with differing hours on weekends due to the presence of the Civil Disturbance Response Team and SWAT.
“This is old-fashioned policing, out being visible to address concerns that the citizens in that area — whether they live, work or play in that area — [have]. The businesses who have invested their time, effort and money in those areas, we owe it to them to make it as safe as we possibly can,” said Theetge. “Especially when we’re talking about quality of life type issues. Consuming alcohol out in public, public gaming, things like that. Loud music. This is what the Walking Patrol is about.”
Theetge put an emphasis on the protection of OTR businesses during the press conference, saying the best way for customers to feel safe visiting businesses is police visibility. “There is a lot of investment that has been made in OTR,” Theetge said, referencing recent economic development.
Theetge says the Walking Patrol would simply ask for compliance with the law when faced with these “quality of life” issues, and only use police enforcement when the compliance is refused.
“First and foremost, we just want people to do what the law says they can do and not do,” Theetge said. “Only when they refuse to do that would I expect enforcement efforts.”
OTR has come into the policing spotlight in recent months due to a rise in breaking-and-entering and burglary crimes, as well as a series of homicides. CPD previously pulled resources into OTR in June for visibility purposes — a common police practice along with the new Walking Patrol, according to Theetge. “This is not new to CPD,” Theetge said.
There will be a special session of the Cincinnati City Council on Wednesday at noon that will discuss the Walking Patrol visibility plan, among other crime prevention topics.
This article appears in Jul 9-22, 2025.