Cincinnati Public Safety Is Failing: A Lifelong Resident Explains Why

Cincinnati public safety didn’t collapse overnight.

I’m 48 years old, born and raised here, and aside from a two-year stint in Pittsburgh, this city has been my entire life.

So when a newcomer like Nichole Carminati writes an op-ed today, pointing out what’s broken in Cincinnati, I don’t roll my eyes. I nod along, because she’s right — and a lot of us who grew up here have been warning about public safety for years.

Cincinnati public safety has been declining for years

What people are finally starting to notice are the same patterns longtime residents have been living with:

• Judges releasing violent offenders with little or no meaningful bail
• Reckless driving and ignored traffic laws all over the city
• Endless social-service expansion with no parallel push for accountability
• The same neighborhoods absorbing a disproportionate share of the problems
• Public schools that feel more like a holding pattern than a path to opportunity

These aren’t random glitches. They are predictable results of political choices. Cincinnati public safety didn’t “just happen” to get worse. It was nudged there, step by step, by leaders who are more afraid of being criticized than they are of letting things fall apart.

The harsh truth: Democrats in Cincinnati simp for criminals

I’m going to put this the way a lot of normal people talk about it in private: for some reason, Democrats in this city simp for criminals. That doesn’t mean every Democrat is a bad person. It doesn’t mean they wake up in the morning wanting crime. But over time, they’ve built a political culture where the people causing the most damage get the most benefit of the doubt.

They’re terrified of being accused of “over-policing,” so instead they:

• Weaken enforcement or refuse to support it
• Fight traffic stops and basic proactive policing
• Coddle repeat offenders who treat court dates like suggestions
• Treat accountability as if it’s somehow cruel or outdated
• Talk more about the feelings of offenders than the safety of residents

It’s not complicated: when leaders simp for criminals, the criminals notice. And once they notice that nobody in power is serious about consequences, they get bolder. That’s how Cincinnati public safety ends up where it is now.

Newcomers see the smoke. Locals have been standing in the fire.

When a newcomer like Carminati looks at our city, she sees:

• Unsafe streets that feel more chaotic than they should be
• Violent offenders back out on the street in no time
• Judges who act like jail is an inconvenience instead of a tool
• Nonprofits expanding while the school system crumbles

Those of us who have lived here our whole lives see something different. We see twenty-plus years of spin, slowly eroding Cincinnati public safety while everyone in power insists everything is “complicated” or “nuanced” every time someone demands results.

We’ve watched as national talking points and activist pressure got imported into local politics, until saying basic things like “crime is wrong and should be punished” became controversial inside certain circles. Newcomers are shocked. We’re not shocked. We’re exhausted.

I ran twice trying to fix this — including a race against Denise Driehaus

I didn’t decide to run for office because I was bored. I did so because I saw exactly what’s happening now and wanted to change direction before Cincinnati public safety became a full-blown crisis.

I’ve run two campaigns in Hamilton County, including one directly against Commissioner Denise Driehaus. My race was even mentioned by the Enquirer in their coverage of the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners race. I wasn’t running to collect a title. I was running to force a real conversation about crime, courts, and accountability.

What became obvious to me, and to a lot of voters I talked to, is that no Democrat in this region is structurally able to solve these problems. Not because they’re evil, not because of race, but because of the political script they’re stuck reading from.

Why Democrats can’t fix it — and why a Republican can

The Democratic establishment in cities like Cincinnati operates inside a messaging box. Inside that box:

• Stronger enforcement is automatically painted as harmful or biased.
• Supporting police must come with a long apology letter.
• Calling out failing schools risks upsetting unions and political allies.
• Questioning whether a program actually improves Cincinnati public safety is treated like an attack on compassion.

It’s impossible to fix a problem you’re not allowed to talk about honestly. That’s why I believe only a Republican — or at least someone completely freed from that script — can clean this up.

A Republican can say the obvious things out loud:

• If you carjack someone, you go to jail and you stay there.
• If you assault people, you don’t get a soft-landing program as your first response.
• If you blow through red lights and drive like you’re in a video game, you lose your license.
• If a judge keeps sending violent offenders back into the community, that judge needs to go.
• Kids in Cincinnati deserve functioning schools, not endless excuses and slogans.

Cincinnati public safety will never recover if our leaders are more focused on how activists on social media might react than on whether people can safely walk to their car at night.

Cincinnati has great bones — but it needs a backbone

Carminati is right about one big thing: Cincinnati is an incredible city at its core. The hills, the river, the neighborhoods, the history — the raw material is all here. Newcomers see that, and that’s why they’re moving here from more chaotic places.

But great bones aren’t enough. This city needs a backbone. It needs leaders who will say, without flinching, that Cincinnati public safety is non-negotiable. Not something to trade away for political points. Not something to water down because someone might accuse you of being “too tough.”

Newcomers bring fresh eyes. Locals bring the truth about how we got here. We need both in the conversation, but we also need leadership with the courage to stop simping for criminals and start standing up for the people who make this city worth fighting for.

Cincinnati public safety can still be saved

The good news is that it’s not too late. Cincinnati public safety can still be saved if we’re willing to change who we put in charge and what we demand from them. That means:

• Backing leaders who believe in real consequences for real crimes
• Expecting judges to protect the public, not just move cases
• Rebuilding schools so kids have a real shot, not a managed decline
• Focusing social services on helping people stand, not enabling bad decisions

Cincinnati doesn’t need more speeches. It needs results. It needs leaders who aren’t afraid to say what most people already know: our current approach is failing, and the city is too important to keep pretending everything is fine.

Cincinnati public safety is the foundation for everything else — investment, growth, community, opportunity. If we don’t fix that, nothing else we talk about will matter. And if we want to fix it, we’re going to need new leadership with the courage to do what the current crowd won’t.

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