CINCINNATI — Video of chaos at The Banks this Easter Sunday appears to show just one more example of an uneasy trend — large groups of people gathering in Cincinnati, causing mischief, or worse, violence.
But is the community just seeing more instances of violence because more surveillance video has been made available, or does data show an actual increase in these incidents?
Unfortunately, the Cincinnati Police Department was unable to answer that question.
WCPO 9 obtained video of two more recent attacks that aren't even included in the city’s crime data. Both incidents occurred on Feb. 21, just hours apart.
The first was on 5th and Walnut. In the video, a person can be seen attacking someone from behind and taking them to the ground. Officers run over to help almost immediately.
Several hours later, just blocks away, a group of people are seen gathering at Government Square. A punch is thrown, knocking one person to the ground. A fight breaks out as many in the group begin kicking, punching and shoving each other.
Retired Cincinnati police officer Dan Hils said these types of incidents are not as uncommon as people may think.
“This happening way too frequently,” he said. “I can tell you we dealt with large crowds when I was a young policeman in the late 80s. I’m not saying this is a brand-new phenomenon, I’m saying it is happening more frequently.”
But how does the violence in Cincinnati compare to surrounding cities?
Most recent data shows the city's violent crime rate is at 2.03 violent crimes per 1,000 people. That’s the second lowest among other cities in the Midwest.
Data from January showed violent crime was down overall in Cincinnati, but did show a rise in aggravated assaults.
WCPO 9 requested a copy of the police reports for all three incidents but has not received them.
While the city's crime data is typically updated weekly, WCPO found data hasn’t been updated for three months. Police said they’re looking into why that is.
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