In wake of DuBose shooting, UC appoints VP to head safety, police reform

The University of Cincinnati has created a new executive position to oversee campus safety and police reform – more reaction to last month's officer-involved fatal shooting.

Respected criminologist Robin Engel has been named vice president for safety and reform effective immediately, UC President Santa Ono announced Tuesday.

Engel has been a professor in UC's highly regarded School of Criminal Justice. UC has not yet announced what Engel is being paid to serve in the new role, which has been created in the wake of now-former UC police Officer Ray Tensing shooting and killing Samuel DuBose during a traffic stop on July 19.

Engel's research has focused in part on racial profiling, and she has worked with the city of Cincinnati on its collaborative agreement and the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV).

Engel said she will not directly oversee day-to-day operations in public safety or in the university's police department. Instead, she will report directly to Ono and will advise him and UC's board of trustees on long-term strategy.

"I'll work across all departments," Engel said. "We want to be able to not just implement reform, but to sustain change over time."

According to UC, Engel's new role includes:

• Coordinating all investigations and reviews of the UC police department.

• Establishing and coordinating a UC Community Advisory Group modeled after city reform efforts resulting from the collaborative agreement.

• Assisting in the implementation of changes in UCPD policies, procedures, and practices using evidence-based reforms.

• Coordinating changes and updates in police training.

• Helping to improve diversity and inclusion within UCPD.

• Examining and implementing changes in the complaint process, along with supervisory oversight and managerial practices with the UCPD.

• Rebuilding community trust by enhancing the legitimacy of campus policing practices.

Engel is director of UC's Institute of Crime Science and has advised police departments across the country on racial profiling, violence reduction strategies and best practices. She's worked with police in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arizona, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, and she is the principle researcher for CIRV, the city's violence reduction initiative.

She already consults regularly with UC and Cincinnati Police regarding violence reduction strategies, and said the city's recent history of cooperation among law enforcement and community leaders since the 2001 riots should help her efforts.

"Cincinnati has a good base for what works in terms of these types of reform issues," Engel said. "I do think there's a path forward. It's data-driven and it's collaborative."

Read UC's press release about Engel's appointment here.