CINCINNATI — Barricades installed around University Square this week will remain in place indefinitely as the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati police increase security around campus following a string of shootings and reports of gunfire during the opening weeks of the fall semester.
The Cincinnati Police Department told WCPO 9 on Wednesday that there is no timeline for removing the barricades around University Square on Calhoun Street.
The department said its goal is to keep students, staff, visitors and other members of the community safe and that police will continue adjusting their response to challenges posed by the recent shootings.
WATCH: Barricades near UC to remain indefinitely as university, Cincinnati police increase security
The barricades are just one part of a broader response now taking shape around UC.
University Public Safety said city and university leaders have been meeting regularly to evaluate conditions, coordinate resources and identify additional steps that can be implemented immediately.
UC is investing additional money in overtime for both UC police and Cincinnati police patrols, with enhanced staffing planned on weekends.
Other measures include restricting some open and public parking, closing certain roads to reduce excessive vehicle traffic and adding temporary lighting near University Square. Officials also plan targeted parking enforcement and could implement temporary no-parking restrictions when needed.
The changes come after a series of shootings and reports of shots fired around UC's campus since students returned for the fall semester.
Parents want specifics, accountability
Even as UC and Cincinnati police outline additional measures, some parents say they want to know how those individual actions fit into a larger strategy.
A parent of a UC student emailed WCPO 9 expressing concern not only about the violence but what she described as a lack of specificity from the university, police and elected officials.
"We repeatedly hear that additional resources are being deployed, patrols are being increased, agencies are working together and everyone shares our concern," she wrote. "What we are not hearing are specifics."
The parent said she sent letters to 10 different university, city, law enforcement and government leaders. So far, she's received responses from six, including the Office of the UC President, she said.
"Thousands of UC students live in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding campus," she wrote. "Their safety cannot be addressed through jurisdictional lines, general statements or another reminder to download a safety app."
Another UC parent, Tony Prusak, expressed similar concerns about students living beyond the university's physical boundaries.
Prusak's son is a second-year UC student who lives with roommates near the edge of campus. Prusak said a recent visit to his son's apartment reinforced his concerns about the challenges created by UC's urban footprint.
"Proximity to the city brings opportunity, but it also brings exposure to street-level violence that a campus cannot fully insulate against," Prusak wrote in a statement.
Prusak, who said he comes from a family with several law enforcement officers, argued officials should take a more aggressive approach to deterring violence and repeat offenders. He also pointed to a petition circulating among people concerned about safety around UC and encouraged parents to make their concerns known to university and police leadership.
"We should not have to negotiate our sons' and daughters' safety as a condition of attending class," Prusak wrote. "My best advice to parents, drawn from both research and the street-level reality my family knows well, is straightforward: tell your children not to engage with individuals loitering or soliciting confrontation on the streets near campus. Engagement escalates risk, and risk in these environments is not theoretical."
Students change routines as alerts add up
For some students, the violence has already changed how they navigate the neighborhoods surrounding campus.
Freshman Jane Sheldon and sophomore Ikran Malin were walking along Calhoun Street on Wednesday when they saw the barricades around University Square.
Malin called them a "first step," but questioned whether restricting access to one location would solve a larger problem.
"I don't know if it'll stop much," Malin said. "It might just happen in a different area, but I think that it's a first step, better than just talking."
The repeated UC safety alerts have also become a familiar part of the first weeks of the semester.
Sheldon said the reaction among students she knows isn't necessarily surprise anymore.
"Every time the alerts are out, it's not really like, 'Oh my gosh, like there's another shooting,'" Sheldon said. "It's more like, I'm just going to text my friends and see if they're OK."
Malin said students she knows are increasingly avoiding walking alone, particularly at night. Friends use a buddy system, she said, while some students who live off campus choose to drive rather than walk.
For something as simple as getting food after sunset, Malin said she will sometimes stay home and order delivery.
"It seems like every day after a certain time there's something going on," she said.
Sheldon, who lives near University Square, said that where many of the recent incidents have happened makes the situation particularly stressful.
"This is a busy street that you sort of like have to walk on to get around, and it's like where all of them are happening," Sheldon said. "So I don't really feel like that safe."
'The gun violence is not normal'
UC Police Chief Eliot Isaac told us Tuesday that the university has already doubled the number of UC officers deployed on weekends.
UC also spends more than $1 million annually to hire off-duty Cincinnati police officers to provide additional coverage around campus, Isaac said.
"I think you're going to see a significant presence this weekend and the weeks to come," he said.
Isaac said the challenge extends beyond the UC student population. Police are seeing juveniles mixed into crowds around campus as well as people older than traditional college age who sometimes arrive in the area after bars elsewhere close.
He described the situation as a "very complex dynamic."
Police are now looking at ways to make areas where problems have occurred harder to enter and easier to leave quickly.
"We've got some strategies that we're gonna try to really kind of restrict some of the access to our problem areas, and we're gonna tweak it until we get it right," Isaac said.
Isaac said there is unlikely to be one measure that solves the problem. Instead, UC and Cincinnati police intend to adjust their strategies as they determine what works.
"We hear the concerns. We share the concerns," Isaac said. "We are pulling every lever that we can to provide safety to this."
