CINCINNATI — Cincinnati police and University of Cincinnati police told city council Tuesday that increased patrols, barricades and social media monitoring have helped improve public safety near campus after a violent start to the fall semester.
Interim Cincinnati Police Chief Adam Hennie and UC Police Chief Eliot Isaac delivered the update to council, acknowledging that the university's population "more than quadrupling" during August creates challenges each year.
WATCH: Here's what police leaders report has changed this school year, leading to some of the violence
What's different this school year, they said, is how social media has been used to promote large gatherings where weapons are brought.
"They're dropping locations and advocating individuals to bring firearms," Isaac said.
One gathering led to gunfire near University Square in late August. No one was injured. Police monitored social media, which led them to Ronquez Benton. Before his arrest, Hennie said officers approached Benton and warned him directly.
"We know who you are. You need to understand what you are doing, and we're asking you to please stop, because there could be repercussions for this," Hennie said officers told Benton.
WATCH PREVIOUS: UC issues letter after several shootings near campus during start of school year
The following weekend, Benton posted again on social media promoting another gathering. Police located him on UC property and found him in possession of a long rifle, Hennie said. Benton was arrested for criminal trespass and also charged with carrying concealed weapons, having weapons while under disability and receiving stolen property.
"This individual was not only putting these parties together, but also was bringing weapons to the scene, which could have obviously had a horrible effect," Hennie said.
Hennie said that since the arrest, no additional social media posts promoting gatherings have been observed.
When asked how many incidents this year were tied to similar gatherings, Hennie didn't answer.
"I don't want to get into that specific information of intelligence that we are getting off of that," Hennie said. "What I did want to make sure is that we told everyone and communicated these two arrests that we made off of this last social media post."
WATCH PREVIOUS: Business owners near the University of Cincinnati push back on street closures meant to curb violence
The other arrest was a passenger in Benton's car who police say they found in possession of a pistol.
According to available crime data, between the start of the fall semester and Sept. 22, there have been seven reported shootings in the areas surrounding campus, including two homicides. That compares to two shootings in 2024 and one shooting and one homicide in 2023. No shootings were reported in that same time frame in 2025.
Not all of the violence has been connected to large gatherings. Hennie said a Sept. 1 double shooting on East Shields Street was caused by a dispute, while a Sept. 11 shooting on Short Vine is still under investigation.
"Our walking patrols are up in hundreds and hundreds of percentages this year, and it has shown statistically that many crimes can either be delayed or prevented because people see these officers," Hennie said.
In response to the uptick in crime, Cincinnati police bolstered walking and biking patrols near UC, put up barricades and temporarily put overnight road closures in place around campus. Hennie said the area falls across two police districts, and both have been provided overtime funding approved by the council to add additional walking officers. CPD also deployed officers from its 20-officer bike patrol unit to the campus area on top of existing patrols.
Isaac said UC has doubled its CUF police detail, which is a program in which the university invests $1 million per year to hire off-duty Cincinnati police officers to patrol the Clifton, CUF and Corryville areas.
"This dynamic that Chief Hennie talked about, where they're dropping locations and advocating individuals to bring firearms to this area, it has created a different dynamic than we've historically seen," Isaac said.
Police say they are committed to maintaining a visible presence in the area, regardless of whether the improvement shows up in statistics or perception.
"We're watching, and if you do this, we're going to be coming after you without question," Isaac said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
