Cincinnati police chief announces retirement date

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac will officially retire on March 1, according to police officials.

FOX19 NOW is told Chief Isaac informed his staff of his plans on Tuesday.

Isaac, a 33 year veteran with the department, announced in June of 2021 he would retire the following year.

Here is what the chief said last summer:

“Right now, due to my tenure and how our retirement system works, I plan to retire sometime in the first quarter of 2022.”

Chief Isaac began with the department in 1988.

He became a police captain in 2004 and ascended to district commander in 2007.

Isaac was appointed chief in 2015 by former City Manager Harry Black, replacing outgoing Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, whom Black fired.

He presided over several years of declining gun violence in Cincinnati before the pandemic when homicides and shootings spiked both locally and nationwide.

Homicides and shootings are down in Cincinnati so far this year compared to the same time last year with overall violent crime at a six-year low, Isaac told City Council last week.

A nationwide search to find Isaac’s successor will begin immediately, FOX19 NOW is told.

correction: Sourcing the police department, FOX19 originally reported the chief's retirement date is Feb. 11. His retirement date is March 1.

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