NEWS

UC paying police consultant nearly $400,000

Kate Murphy
kmurphy@enquirer.com
University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing (center) talks with Cincinnati Police Department officers and UCPD officer Phillip Kidd in this police video from July 19, 2015, shortly after Tensing shot motorist Sam DuBose to death.

Six months ago, Samuel DuBose was shot and killed by University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing.

The fatal shooting struck the community with tragedy and anger. The tension between the city's beloved university and its neighboring communities that put Cincinnati in the national discussion over police violence against black men is still pulsing.

Reform efforts were demanded across the city.

“They need some real change,” Rob Richardson Sr., president of the Cincinnati NAACP chapter, said of UCPD. “They need to better reflect the community they are serving and be more sensitive to the neighborhood and people they are patrolling.”

The university is responding, hiring Exiger, a New York City-based consulting firm, for nearly $400,000 to conduct a review of the police department. Exiger will deploy a 12-member team of policing experts to assess policies, procedures and training practices. That will include a look at traffic stops, use of force and community engagement.

"We need to see what happened and where the problems were, but we want to tap into expertise across the country for the vision for where we should be going,” UC Vice President for Safety and Reform Robin Engel said. “We’re hoping to redefine policing and public safety in an urban area."

Richardson said that's a step in the right direction, saying UC's response appears to be "a legitimate effort" regarding policing reform.

UCPD cars are parked outside the station in the Corry Garage on the University of Cincinnati campus.

Exiger's diverse team was hand-picked by Jeff Schlanger, the managing director and president of Exiger’s Advisory Group and former deputy primary monitor for the Los Angeles Police Department consent decree. The U.S. Justice Department imposed the consent degree in 2001 to quell a pattern of abuse of suspects, evidence tampering and perjury, according to The Los Angeles Times.

The team probing UCPD practices is led by Schlanger and Charles Ramsey, a former Philadelphia police commissioner and co-chair of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

“We’re performing a deep dive on many aspects of the department and determining how it stacks up against best practices,” Schlanger said. “Hopefully the concerns that are out there in the community will be somewhat allayed, either by finding that things are overall good, or that the areas where they may not be as good are identified with a plan for remediation."

A committee made up of UC administrators and members of the Community Advisory Council selected the consultant, offering $393,250 for the services.  
The advisory council was established three months after DuBose's death to provide citizen input about the university's policing. In the case of hiring Exiger, Engel said UC didn't want the selection to be an internal decision, but one involving the community.

"It's not enough to just change the agency," Engel said. "You have to partner with the community so that the agency becomes part of that community and the change reflects their needs as well."

Over the next four months, Exiger will meet regularly with university police, city police, UC students and faculty, the Community Advisory Council and city residents.

The team will submit an interim report in April and a final report is due June 1.

Other UC reform efforts

  • A $5.3 million settlement with the DuBose family was announced last month
  • Establishment of the Community Advisory Council in October
  • Fair and impartial policing training for UC police officers in October.
  • UC assembled a team of experts to lead safety and reform efforts in August.
  • Implementation of an Early Warning System, which is used to flag patterns of officer behavior, such as the use of force, for review.
  • Use of contact cards that track the gender and race of individuals involved in all pedestrian and traffic stops conducted by UCPD
  • Direct field supervision.