The Greater Cincinnati Police Historical Society

Numerous times over the 120 years, the concept of a police museum and/or research library has been discussed, sometimes even formally in staff studies and once as a collaborative effort with the Hamilton County Police Association. The Cincinnati Police Department, and later the Cincinnati Police Federal Credit Union, even collected a few artifacts. But, no museum ensued.

During the 1990s, several police artifact collectors informally discussed pooling their collections for the purpose of a museum. These included Cincinnati Police Detective Richard W. Gross, Lieutenant Patrick Olvey, and Sergeants Thomas Waller and Rand Adams. After Cincinnati Police Officers Daniel Pope and Ronald Jeter were murdered in 1997, Christine Saunders, the mother of Cincinnati Police Lieutenant Steven Saunders, asked why there was no place to honor police officers; not just those who died in their service, but all officers. The group of collectors, Mrs. Saunders, and other interested people from various agencies met in August 1998. Their first decision was that there was no way to tell the history of the Police Department without telling the history of law enforcement in the entire region. Thus, the GREATER Cincinnati Police Historical Society was born.

They continued to meet, adopted a vision and organizational structure, and incorporated themselves in July 1999 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, charitable (declination) corporation. Detective Gross was elected as its first president and served as such for the next six years. Their adopted mission:

To convey an understanding of aspects and history of law enforcement, we aspire to become the area’s principal repository for related artifacts by operating a library, archives, and research facility which will encourage study into and inspire appreciation of law enforcement.

The Cincinnati Police Federal Credit Union provided to the Society with warehouse space in which to store artifacts, display cases, and other items as they were acquired. By 2001, the Society signed a lease with the Credit Union for the warehouse space with the intention of renovating it into a temporary museum site. Architectural drawings were rendered. Contractors were hired. With donations of time, material, and cash, construction began in 2002.