Every city has its bad neighborhoods and its good neighborhoods. Possibly the
only exception to this rule is Stepford, a fictional town in which everyone
is brainwashed. The fact is, there are people who are drawn toward crime, whether
through inclination or desperation, in every city, and they have to live somewhere.
It behooves you to know how safe the city you're planning on relocating
to is and whether you have to worry about being mugged for your Maggie Sottero
bridal gown on the way back from the shop. So to give you a general idea of
what you can expect in Cincinnati, we've compiled this article on crime
in the city.
The late 1990s were good years for Cincinnati. The crime rates were dropping,
investment in the city was increasing after the industry slump of the 1980s.
Precious metal funds investments were going up and the outlook for the future
was good. However, all that changed in 2001, when Cincinnati police fatally
shot a young African American man during an on-foot pursuit. The incident ignited
simmering allegations of racial profiling and discrimination by police and resulted
in three days of rioting which at times became violent.
In the years following the riots, the crime rate increased, leading many Cincinnati
residents wondering if they should trade in their Motorola leather cases for
gun holsters. The residual racial tensions following the riots combined with
the police workforce slowdown lead to an increase in violent crime, including
murders and gunshot wounds. This wave of crime catapulted Cincinnati to the
20th most dangerous city in America for the year of 2005. Citizens and city
councilors were understandably aghast at what had become of their poor city,
and began to take steps to turn back the rising tide.
The Cincinnati police formed a special task force to deal with the problem
and allotted more officers to neighborhoods that were experiencing the most
instances of people getting their faces smashed through a modern glass vanity.
Cincinnati's mayor joined the Mayors Against Illegal Guns group and the
hospitals instituted a rehab program for gunshot victims to keep them from falling
back into the cycle of gun violence. The following years saw a decrease in the
number of gunshot wounds being treated at local hospitals and a drop in the
number of murders as the city slowly works its way back toward pre-riot levels.
Despite Cincinnati's struggle with crime statistics, the majority of
the city remains relatively safe. Greenhouse suppliers in Mount Adams go home
at night without worrying about their fragile glass windows and the Northside's
gay and lesbian residents go about without fear of being attacked on account
of their lifestyle choices. The neighborhoods that struggle with violence tend
to be low income and suffering from building degradation. Desperate or angry
residents of these neighborhoods are responsible for the heightened statistics,
particularly in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, which has thus far been the
focus of crime reduction efforts by the city and the police force.
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