Dive Brief:
- The University of Cincinnati has tapped one of its own criminology professors to lead a campus police reform process spurred on by the July killing of Samuel DuBose by a university police officer.
- Criminologist Robin S. Engel will take over as vice president for safety and reform, joined by a new public safety director and police-community relations director who both have long histories in local policing.
- Engel’s research has examined racial profiling as an outcome of police training, and she has long been a proponent of police-faculty collaboration to use academic research as a resource for improving departments.
Dive Insight:
University Police Officer Ray Tensing stopped 43-year-old Samuel DuBose for missing a front license plate while conducting an off-campus patrol. Tensing has been charged with DuBose’s murder after shooting the man in the head. There have been impassioned calls for the University of Cincinnati to disband its police force altogether and a renewed conversation about the role of campus police at colleges and universities nationwide. Engel’s work at the University of Cincinnati may provide a guide for other campuses interested in embracing reform through similar partnerships.