CINCINNATI — As students move in for the upcoming school year at the University of Cincinnati, concerns about safety are already surfacing. This comes after reports of break-ins and a shooting on Sunday that police said happened at a party.
Students and parents had mixed views on crime issues off-campus.
"My mother was terrified," UC freshman Brad Backston said. "My mom's in the Facebook groups and people are worried about break-ins, windows getting smashed, so hopefully I don't have to worry about that."
For other parents, like Kristen Oganowski, this is nothing new. One of her sons just graduated from UC and another is going into his freshman year.
Oganowski said she sees off-campus crime as the reality of a school in an urban area.
"Year 5 of getting alerts, alerts, but I mean, I think it's everywhere," she said. "It's good to know that the campus is on it, that they do take it seriously."
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Jack Miner, vice provost for enrollment management, said the university does take it seriously.
"I think one of the things that we always try to do is remind students and families that for many of these students, it's their first time away from home," he said.
So, Miner said, they try to remind students — especially freshmen — of safety tips like locking their car and making sure not to leave valuables visible inside.
Plus, he said they partner with the Cincinnati Police Department to try to reduce crime rates off-campus.
City data shows reported crime is up from last year in off-campus neighborhoods, though. So far this year, there have been 671 reported incidents, compared to 549 at this time last year, according to city data.
