Following the stark conclusion drawn by a new report on the Cincinnati Police Department, which found racial disparities exist in police stops throughout the city, we turned to police leaders and a criminal defense attorney for their opinions on the findings.The more than 60-page analysis, produced by Campaign Zero, a nonprofit focused on police reform, found that in 2025, CPD officers stopped Black people 3.4 times more often than white people. Black pedestrians made up 80% of police stops that year, compared to 19% of white pedestrians.And between 2009 and 2025, the report found Black people were 2.1 times more likely to be searched by police, 1.9 times more likely to have force used against them and 1.8 times more likely to be arrested than white people.WATCH: A new report paints a picture of racial disparities within CPD. We spoke with those in the criminal justice system about it. FOP responds to report finding racial disparities in Cincinnati policingPolice stops in Cincinnati are concentrated in a small number of neighborhoods, including Avondale, Over-the-Rhine, East Price Hill and Downtown, according to the report.Ken Kober, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Queen City Lodge 69, took issue with the process behind the report, saying CPD and city officials were excluded from the report's development. He said civil rights leader Iris Roley asked to be involved and was turned down."Their method is just to come in here, make the police look as bad as they possibly can, and then they leave, and they just go on to the next city, and do the same thing," Kober said.According to its website, Campaign Zero is a project of We the Protesters, Inc., which started in 2015 after the deaths of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Freddy Gray in Baltimore and other similar cases that sparked civil rights protests.The group said it uses donated funds to analyze policing practices across the country, and it is actively involved in trying to create policies to limit police interventions, improve community interaction and ensure accountability.Kober said the report omitted traffic stop data from Cincinnati's expressways, which would change the racial breakdown of stops significantly."Talk to a traffic officer, like 75 to 80, 85% of the people that we stop on the expressways are white," Kober said. "You could give me any kind of data, and I can skew it to be able to fit a narrative that I want to portray."Kober said that staffing shortages have reduced the overall volume of proactive police work in recent years, which could also affect the numbers. Despite his criticism, Kober said he is not dismissing the need for scrutiny."If there's a perception that there's a problem, let's look at it. Let's tackle it," Kober said. "Let's see if there really is a problem, and if there is, let's deal with it. But that's not what this organization is doing."Criminal defense attorney Carl Lewis said the report's findings align with what he sees in his own professional practice and lived experience."I see it every day in my cases that I represent people on," Lewis said. "As a Black resident growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, (I) loved my city, loved the county that I was born and raised in, but it doesn't surprise me."Lewis said it is possible the data doesn't paint a total picture of policing in Cincinnati, but added that the disparities described in the report reflect a real pattern."It's a reality that implicit bias is present in all of us, and as a police officer, you want to be a part of the community, you don't just want to arrest people and go home," he said.Lewis said he wants to see the analysis broadened to include data from other Cincinnati neighborhoods and neighboring communities before drawing firm conclusions."Whether one agrees with every aspect of the reports methodology or not, the disparities identified cannot simply be dismissed they deserve careful examination and a thoughtful response," David Whitehead, Cincinnati NAACP president, wrote in part in a statement on Friday. "When trust is weakened, public safety suffers for everyone. The Cincinnati NAACP is not interested in assigning blame. We are interested in accountability, transparency, and solutions."Stewart Isaacs, president of the Sentinel Police Association, had not received a copy of the report at the time of our interview, but said the findings are troubling on their face, while stopping short of accepting them as accurate."I've been told that the information there's some questions to (it) being inaccurate, the numbers might be skewed," Isaacs said.In a memo on Thursday, City Manager Sheryl Long wrote that they are finding an external expert who can conduct their own review, and the city will ensure they have everything they need "to provide a thorough, fair and full picture of policing in Cincinnati." Isaacs said he is reserving judgment until that review is complete."I would ask that the naysayers and those most critical of us just to allow the process, like any investigation, to come to fruition before we take a diving leap off the cliff and accuse us of doing some things that maybe we have not done at all," Isaacs said.Isaacs said he has confidence in Interim Chief Adam Hennie, the department's senior staff and the officers working across the city every day."Protecting the citizens and doing it in an unbiased way is mission priority for the department," Isaacs said. "There's so many things that (police) do that they don't get credit for. I've seen people change people's tires. I've seen kids get money who didn't have anything to eat."All three Kober, Isaacs and Lewis said they welcome the city's announcement that it will bring in a third party to conduct its own independent review of policing in Cincinnati.Campaign Zero drew its analysis from contact card data. Contact cards, also called field interview reports, are records officers fill out when stopping individuals. Kober said they are a valuable investigative tool used across a range of police encounters.The report, which was made public this week, covers data from 2009 to 2025 and notes a decline over that period in some of the disparities it identified.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. ...read more read less