CPD Assistant Chief Matthew Hammer reflects on a career in policing

CPD Assistant Chief Matthew Hammer reflects on a career in policing

The School of Criminal Justice alum applies learnings from UC to his daily work

University of Cincinnati alumnus Lt. Col. Matthew Hammer was amongst Cincinnati Police Department leadership during this tumultuous past year for the city, having been appointed to the role of Assistant Chief in January 2025. And he sees this as a moment of opportunity for the department.

"There were a lot of challenges in public safety this past year," says Hammer. "A lot of challenges that we've faced in terms of making sure that our public understands the quality of this police department and the quality of the officers who work here. I've been so lucky to be in positions where I can see first-hand the work that our officers are doing. Ninety-eight percent of the work of the police department is not visible to our public, right?

"As a district commander, as an assistant chief I see true acts of heroism every single day. And I'm seeking every opportunity I can to better tell our story and make sure that our public understands the quality of the officers that are serving them."

Now in his 27th year of police work, Hammer has gained the insight and experience to navigate challenging times over the course of his career, which he remembers choosing as a high schooler based on an innate disposition.

"The most common answer that people give for why they want to be police officers is to help people," he says. "[This job] provides a really important way to be able to help people who need somebody willing to stand up for them and support them."

Year one in District 1

A Cleveland-area native (he grew up in Northfield Village), Hammer made his way south to Dayton for college to earn an undergraduate degree in criminal justice. Following completion of his undergraduate work, in July 1999 he enrolled in the police academy; he graduated in December of the same year and was straight away assigned to Cincinnati's District 1, which includes the Over-the-Rhine and West End neighborhoods. Though the area has seen a remarkable renaissance in recent years, full of boutique shopping and high-end dining, Over-the-Rhine was at that point challenged to the point of being considered one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the nation.

"I was immediately faced with challenges in my patrol beats," recounts Hammer. "Significant violent crime, drug-related activity: Those sorts of things were a part of my daily life. And I was assigned to District 1 in 2001, which, in the history of policing in Cincinnati, is a really critical year - a series of controversial police-involved shootings leading to civil unrest in 2001, leading ultimately to the collaborative agreement."

It was challenging work, and his first years in uniform exposed Hammer to a lot of frustration from the community, but he persisted with his work on the violent crime squad. He was promoted to sergeant in 2007 and moved to supervise the violent crime squad on the city's east side.

But in subsequent years, he grew disheartened by what he saw as lack of lasting impact from the hard work of policing.

"I was just frustrated that the work we were doing, which I felt was very good and important work, wasn't generating the outcomes I wished it would," he explains. Hammer started studying up on best practices in policing, exploring potential improvements that, he hoped, could lead to the community improvements he wanted to see.

At the same time, CPD had launched a partnership with the University of Cincinnati called the Chief Scholars Program. Hammer applied, changing the course of his professional life.

"It really opened my eyes"

"It was a chance to be enrolled in the master's program for criminal justice at UC while continuing to be employed by the police department," he says. "I applied for it and was lucky enough to be accepted both by our department, by the police chief who signed off, and also by the University of Cincinnati."

The education he gained in UC's Master of Science in Criminal Justice program engaged and excited Hammer, as his dissatisfaction with overarching outcomes gave way to a deeper understanding of policing. "It really opened my eyes, learning about best practices and studying the effect of the strategies that we employ," he says. "There were opportunities for me to take what I was learning at UC and take advantage of it within the police department, like doing a lot with data-driven strategies overseeing our crime analyst group."

Lt. Col. Matthew Hammer Asst. Chief, Cincinnati Police Department

He was so inspired by his graduate work, in fact, that Hammer applied and was accepted to the Criminal Justice PhD program, which he pursued for seven years while raising a family and working for CPD, first as a sergeant, then lieutenant and, at the time of obtaining his PhD, as captain. During this timeframe, he also saw the introduction of CPD's groundbreaking Place Based Investigations of Violent Offender Territories, or PIVOT, team, which ultimately provided the subject matter for his dissertation.

"The PIVOT team was founded upon the concept that there are networks of places that exist, and networks of offenders use those networks of places to facilitate violence," he explains. "Crime tends to be relatively stable. When we're talking about violent crime, we see it persist in certain small places in the city. It raises evidence that offenders do capitalize on certain aspects of places, and then it creates those opportunities for us to be able to police more holistically, understand how to communicate with our public and other city departments and property owners - really create a comprehensive strategy to be able to reduce violence. It also probably highlights why sometimes we will arrest offenders over and over in a certain place, but we won't see reductions in crime. It's because of some of those structures that exist, and we've got to do something to disrupt the structure. Otherwise new people will take the same opportunity.

"The Cincinnati Police Department calls itself a problem-solving agency, and to have fidelity to the problem-solving process requires a more practiced process," he adds. "It's essentially following the scientific process."

As he's implemented the deeper academic understanding of policing that he developed at UC, Hammer has also continued to rise through the ranks of CPD. He returned to District 1 as commander, overseeing the area where his own career in policing began. And in early 2025, he earned the title of assistant chief, overseeing the Patrol Bureau and the Strategic Innovation Bureau.

Hammer attributes his time as a student in UC's master's and PhD criminal justice programs with much of the work he's been able to do in his career with the CPD, and he does recommend higher education for officers seeking to develop a deeper understanding of this important work. Noting that recruitment is a persistent challenge, he doesn't see much argument for enacting higher education requirements that could serve as a barrier for potential officers to join the force, but he strongly advocates for taking advantage of opportunities when they arise.

And, of course, he'd recommend UC to anyone who asks.

"The programs I attended through University of Cincinnati were so relevant to the work that I was doing," he says. "They weren't some kind of distant, theoretical concept that I didn't understand how it connected to the work I was doing. It was relevant to the work that I was doing, and I found so much value and felt that I could do my work better as a result of the education I received.

"And of course I would encourage other people to seek that same opportunity."

Featured image at top: Lt. Col. Matthew Hammer dressed in his full police uniform. Photo provided by the Cincinnati Police Department

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