Report: Cincinnati police solve more crimes than other major metros

In Ohio, seven out of 10 violent crimes go unsolved or don't result in arrests, but Cincinnati police outperform nearly every major metro police department in the state, according to a recent report.

Council of State Governments Justice Center issued the report based on the FBI's Uniformed Crime Reporting Program. The group used data from 2022. The statistics are self-reported by the different agencies, and those agencies are not required to participate, which leaves some gaps in the data.

Among states with the most unsolved violent crimes, Ohio ranked third, behind Florida and New Mexico .

Both, Akron and Cleveland police left 87% of violent crimes unsolved, and Columbus police had an 85% unsolved rate in 2022. While Cincinnati police had an unsolved rate of 50.8% that same year.

More: Data shows juvenile crime is down. Why do police and prosecutors say it's getting worse?

Violent crime is falling nationwide and Cincinnati is no exception. After a surge in shootings, especially among juveniles last year, the city has seen a drop of 6% year to date in the number of people shot.

The FBI considers incidents that fall under homicide, robbery, rape and aggravated assault as violent crimes.

Cincinnati police union president Ken Kober said he knows that the public and the police both want to solve even more violent crimes that occur in the city.

But he said many factors that leave cases unsolved: uncooperative victims, suspects paying off or threatening witnesses and a lack of physical evidence among them.

"It doesn't surprise me that our rate is much better than other cities," Kober said. "A lot of it comes down to community engagement."

He said people are more willing to work with the police when the police are trusted.

"If you get a reputation for being fair and honest with the community, they'll give it right back to you," he said.

Many of the Hamilton County agencies that report crime statistics to the FBI had low unsolved rate similar to Cincinnati. In 2022, Springfield Township police only left 32.6% of their 43 total violent crimes unsolved. Forest Park police reported a rate closer to other major cities in Ohio with an unsolved rate of nearly 82%.

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office reported an unsolved rate of nearly 48%, similar to that of Cincinnati police. Other sheriffs in the area reported rates ranging for 11% to nearly 77%. In Greater Cincinnati, the size of the county you live in and the number of violent crime occurring seemed to have no correlation with how many get solved.

Cincinnati police also stacked up well against other major cities nearby with a better-unsolved rate than Lexington, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Nashville. Data was not available for Louisville or Pittsburgh.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Report: Cincinnati police solve more crimes than other major metros