º£½ÇÉçÇø

A recent traffic blitz in Cincinnati resulted in 557 citations and 58 arrests.

The Cincinnati Police Department dedicated 10 officers to traffic enforcement over a two-week period in October. Each of the five districts had five focus areas:

• District One: Liberty St, E. Clifton, McMicken Ave, Linn St, Main St, and Walnut St
• District Two: Madison Rd, Ridge Rd, Montgomery Rd, Columbia Pkwy, and Red Bank Rd
• District Three: River Rd, Westwood Ave, Queen City Ave, Harrison Ave, Westwood Northern Blvd, and Beekman Ave
• District Four: Martin Luther King Dr, Paddock Rd, Reading Rd, Burnet Ave, and Vine St
• District Five: Colerain Ave, Spring Grove Ave, Winton Rd, Clifton Ave, Hamilton Ave

"These locations were picked very carefully," Lt. Robert Van Horn told a Cincinnati Council committee Tuesday. "They weren't picked because of a neighborhood, they weren't picked because of people drug dealing; we just looked at where we know we have crashes and where we know we have violence."

Speeding was the most common problem, accounting for more than half the citations, at 290. Next highest was driving without a valid license, with 101 citations.

"There were a number of people who were 16, 18, 21 [years old], who, when you explain to them how to go down to the BMV ... just were straight no driver's license," Van Horn said. "And then there were another group of people, of course, who had suspended driver's licenses for failure to carry insurance and stuff."

Council Member Mark Jeffreys said he's had a few conversations with the Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education about reinstating driver's education classes, which CPS hasn't offered in years.

Van Horn said in addition to the 557 citations, officers issued a number of warnings, "which are pretty hard to track."

Police also arrested 58 people and confiscated two illegal guns. Van Horn said that was not the intent of the traffic blitz.

"We weren't doing any drug investigations, these were just found in the course of just traffic stops," Van Horn said. "And so they were not meant to be drug arrests or gun arrests, they just materialized."

The number of CPD traffic stops went down by half in 2020 and has still not reached pre-pandemic levels. So far this year, CPD has conducted just over 11,200 stops, about 43% less than this time in 2019.

Cincy Insights

CPD did not provide demographic data for traffic stops during the blitz. shows that in general, Black Cincinnatians are disproportionately subject to traffic stops.

Over the past three years, 65% of drivers stopped by CPD have been Black, while making up about 41% of the city population. White drivers made up 32% of traffic stops and are 50% of the population. An Ohio Center For Investigative Journalism report from 2019 found that some disparities were likely the result of police practices versus outright discrimination. The report includes 315,281 stops from 2009-2017, and found Cincinnati Police made 120% more total stops per resident in predominantly Black areas.

During October 2022, when the traffic blitz took place, the racial breakdown is identical to the three-year average.

The number of traffic crashes dropped at the start of the pandemic but went back up last year. So far this year, crashes are down 13% compared to 2019. At least 218 pedestrians have been hit by Cincinnati drivers so far this year, a 23% reduction from 2019.

Interim Police Chief Teresa Theetge says CPD is planning another traffic blitz for sometime in the future, although the specific locations may change.

Full list of traffic blitz citations

Full list of traffic blitz arrests: