Univ. of Cincinnati Police Recently Saw Role in City Expand

The University of Cincinnati’s 2013 policy adjustments changed the mission and responsibilities of the university’s police force.

The University of Cincinnati police force—the department that employed the officer who shot and killed a motorist during a traffic stop July 19—had recently begun a massive anti-crime campaign that drastically changed its role in the city.

The university president and police chief signed a letter written to Hamilton County judges in 2013 that requested an expanded role in the city for campus police to combat what they said was a “troubling rate” of victimization of students, according to Cincinnati.com.

The letter was part of the university’s wider security effort that resulted in the school signing an agreement with the city that made campus police increasingly involved in off campus incidents. A larger campus police force and increased patrols also led to more contact with non-students.

As a result, University of Cincinnati police had handed out 932 traffic citations through July of 2015, already more than three times the amount they gave in the entire year of 2012.

Now those policies are being criticized after former officer Ray Tensing shot and killed Sam DuBose during a traffic stop. Tensing had pulled DuBose over for not having a front license plate, and body camera footage shows that after several minutes of questioning there was some sort of a struggle that led to Tensing discharging his firearm.

Campus Safety Magazine had previously reported that Tensing was dragged by Dubose’s vehicle before firing the fatal shot, but the footage disproves that claim and two responding UC officers, Phillip Kidd and David Lindenschmidt, have since changed their original eyewitness accounts.

RELATED: Officer Ray Tensing’s Body Camera Video

Tensing has been charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter while prosecutor’s decided not to pursue criminal charges against the responding officers.

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