CINCINNATI — Some Cincinnati residents are increasingly worried about crime in their neighborhoods, with many calling for city leaders to take stronger action as violent incidents continue to occur throughout the summer months.
"I just want to feel safe and comfortable," said Thomas Gubert, a Clifton resident.
This sentiment has become a common refrain among many Cincinnati residents in recent weeks, and among several city figures seeking election, like gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, city council candidate Christopher Smitherman and mayoral candidate Cory Bowman.
Since the start of summer, there have been multiple shootings in Over-the-Rhine and a viral brawl downtown that led to several arrests. In the past two weeks alone, OTR has experienced several shootings, including two homicides within 24 hours.
Another violent incident that has rattled Cincinnati is the fatal stabbing of Patrick Heringer in OTR in early June. Police reported that his alleged killer had cut off an electronic monitoring device months before the attack.
"This just isn't about me. I'm not the only widow. Patrick isn't the only body," Sarah Heringer, Patrick's wife, previously said.
While high profile instances of crime have happened in Cincinnati this year, crime and violent crime rates are not skyrocketing. Cincinnati and other metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. annually see an uptick in crime in summer months every year.
National data from the FBI shows that nationwide crime and violent crime uptick each year in the summer months, then drop off significantly around October.
Here's a look at national reports of aggravated assaults in 2023 and 2024, respectively:
The FBI does not have data available in its portal for 2025 yet.
In Cincinnati, the data trend is no different: Each year brings a rise in crime that starts in May and lasts until roughly October.
But even with that rise in crime, 2025 hasn't seen a significant spike in reported crime overall in Cincinnati citywide.
According to Cincinnati Police crime data, as of August 11 overall crime in the city is up just .02% compared to this time last year. However, when compared to 2023, crime decreased by 8.23% by this same time in the year.
Annually, the neighborhood in Cincinnati with the most reported crime is Westwood — but Westwood is also Cincinnati's largest neighborhood and houses 10.14% of the population of the entire city, according to 2020 Census data.
This year so far, reported crime is down in Westwood by 1.29% from this time in 2024.
Crime overall is up Downtown. However, data has shown that most of the increase in crime is in auto thefts and thefts from autos.
Still, reported crime Downtown is up 44.97% overall from this time in 2024 and it's up roughly 45.64% compared to the four-year average of crimes reported by this time in the year.
In Over-the-Rhine, reported crime has gone up 48.21% this year compared with this time in 2024.
Reported crime in OTR is also up 36.25% this year when compared with the average of the past four years of crimes at this point in the year.
In Clifton — Cincinnati's 14th largest neighborhood — crime statistics show an uptick in some violent crimes compared to last year. Homicides remain very low in the neighborhood, but aggravated assaults and robberies have been reported more in by this point in 2025 than this point last year.
Overall, Clifton's violent crime has gone up 33% since last year.
When shown the latest crime statistics for Clifton, which show both robberies and aggravated assaults are at their highest levels in years, Ben Pantoja, president of the Clifton Neighborhood Association, was surprised.
"That has increased quite a bit," he said.
Pantoja, a 40-year resident, said he's witnessed significant changes.
"In the 40 years, the four decades, that I've been here, I've seen a dramatic increase in aggressive panhandling, open use of drugs, drug overdoses," Pantoja said.
According to Cincinnati fire and rescue data, Clifton has had the 16th most fire and EMS response runs for overdoses, drugs or poisoning in the past 3 years. But the data also shows that appears to be trending down so far this year, with fewer runs so far in 2025 than each year since 2022.
Last month, portions of Clifton's Ludlow Avenue were disrupted by a late-night street takeover, adding to residents' concerns.
Pantoja believes part of the problem stems from changes in the Cincinnati Police Department's policing strategy.
"I think that law enforcement has gotten away from the theory of broken windows. The broken window theory that if you control things like graffiti, litter," he said. "When you do that, more and more areas like Clifton that weren't higher-level crimes start to get those higher-level crimes as well."
Watch: Cincinnati residents share their thoughts on crime and the city's response so far below:
What does crime look like where you live?
The City of Cincinnati's Reported Crime dashboard shows reported STARS offense activity for the past four years in the City of Cincinnati and Reported Crime Victim demographics for the past four years in the city. You can access it by clicking here.
By default, only the current year's data is shown. To view data for the past 4 years, including year-over-year comparisons, navigate to and select the ‘Offenses Historical’ tab or the 'Victims Historical' tab on the left-hand side of the web page.
