New UC VP faces big job: Reform campus cops

Robin Engel doesn’t have the resume of a typical university vice president, which is why she became one Tuesday.

Engel got the job as the University of Cincinnati’s vice president for safety and reform because she’s spent two decades studying how police do their jobs. She’s donned bulletproof vests and walked the beat with cops, she’s driven around in police cruisers, she’s met with community activists and listened to their grievances, and she’s won acclaim for her academic research.

UC President Santa Ono decided Engel’s hands-on approach was what he needed to help UC repair the damage after a campus police officer shot and killed a motorist during a traffic stop last month.

Engel’s title may sound similar to that of any other vice president, but her mission isn’t: Make UC safer and make its police department better.

“We want to create a police department that is a model for the nation,” Ono said Tuesday. “Robin Engel is the best person to lead us forward.”

The newly created job is big, however, and Engel will be starting work during what can safely be called a crisis. In the wake of the July 19 shooting, which has drawn media attention from around the globe, former Officer Ray Tensing is facing murder charges, and the family of shooting victim Samuel DuBose is suing UC for wrongful death.

City officials have complained about the way UC police patrol city neighborhoods, Tensing’s body camera video of the shooting has gone viral on the Internet, and Hamilton County’s top prosecutor wants to disband the campus police department altogether.

Engel has no delusions about the task ahead. No one has done this kind of work at UC before, and it won’t be easy.

“We want to be able to not just implement reform, but to sustain change over time,” Engel said. “This is going to be a very challenging and difficult role, but I embrace the opportunity.”

Those who’ve worked with Engel say she’s the right choice. They say she’s whip smart and isn’t afraid to dig into a problem by getting out of her office and into the field.

Friends and associates say she has helped police departments in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oklahoma, Nebraska and elsewhere not only to identify problems, but to figure out how to solve them in the real world. She knows what works, they say, because she spends time watching and talking to officers and community leaders.

“Cops are always a bit skeptical about researchers,” said Jim Bueermann, president of the Police Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. “I’m a former cop, and I get how important it is for police to understand that researchers have an understanding of their part of the world.”

He said Engel, who sits on the foundation’s research advisory committee, is one of the researchers who gets it. She doesn’t sit in an ivory tower pontificating, Bueermann said. She works with everyone involved to find a strategy that has a chance to work.

“Dr. Engel’s experience and knowledge have been a great assistance,” said Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, whose office has worked with her on crime reduction efforts.

In Cincinnati, Engel has maintained a long relationship with the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence, or CIRV. The effort uses data and research to help police target crime without making law-abiding residents of high-crime neighborhoods feel as though police are targeting them.

It’s sometimes a difficult line for police to walk, but Engel has built her career around the notion that it’s the best option for police.

“We are going to balance safety with equitable policing practices,” Engel said. “I really believe there doesn’t have to be a tradeoff. It takes work to do this, but we’re willing to do that work.”

Mayor John Cranley said he’s seen Engel do the work, and he’s been impressed. She convinced him this year to re-launch CIRV, which was created after Cincinnati’s 2001 riots but had recently been inactive, to help the city address rising gun violence.

“I’m happy for her but bummed for us,” Cranley said of Engel’s new job. “I’m afraid she’ll have less time for us.”

He and others say Engel is a champion of community policing, which advocates a strong police presence without tactics that can alienate residents, such as high numbers of traffic stops and the practice of stopping and frisking pedestrians.

That suggests she might not look fondly on the increasingly aggressive traffic enforcement by UC police in neighborhoods surrounding UC. In the past four years, the number of tickets issued by university police officers has climbed from 286 to 932 so far this year. As those numbers rose, so did the share of tickets given to black motorists, which jumped from 43 percent to 62 percent.

DuBose was shot after Tensing pulled him over for driving without a front license plate.

Engel won’t oversee the UC Police Department, but will instead report directly to Ono and make recommendations for reforms. Colleagues say she’ll work quickly, but only after collecting data and investing time on the ground with the community and the officers.

“She really embeds herself in the project,” said Nick Corsaro, a UC researcher who also works with the Police Foundation. “It’s not just a Ph.D coming in and saying, ‘This is what you need to do.’”

Engel said she’ll get started soon. Her first task, she said, is to reach out to a community she knows is hurting in the wake of DuBose’s death.

“I’ll listen to the students, the faculty and staff. And I’ll listen to the community and law enforcement,” she said. “This community, from all aspects, is suffering right now. I hope I can help it heal.”

Jason Williams contributed to this report.