Welcome, Interim Police Chief Donna Robinson

Donna Robinson, a recently retired City of Cincinnati Police Department commander, is the new Interim Chief of the Cincinnati State Police Department and Director of Public Safety for Cincinnati State.

Robinson’s 33-year career with the Cincinnati Police Department included serving as a patrol officer, special investigator, district shift sergeant, district patrol shift commander, and commander of the Public Relations Unit, among other roles.

Chief Robinson was born in Cincinnati and grew up in Lexington, Kentucky. Coming from a family of nurses, she enrolled in Eastern Kentucky University intending to follow in that path but changed her major after being exposed to the college’s training hub for law enforcement and firefighting.

“The professors were such cheerleaders for the field,” she said. “I just loved it.”

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice, Robinson joined the Cincinnati Police Department in 1990 as a Police Recruit.

She earned a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Xavier University and completed the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy.

Chief Robinson said her goals at Cincinnati State include meeting the campus community and recruiting to fill vacant Campus Police Officer positions. She said recruiting is “a challenge for police departments across the U.S.”

She also hopes her education and career journey can inspire students at Cincinnati State.

“I like to pour into people, just as so many people poured into me,” she said. “If you take the passion that’s inside of you and merge it with the intellect that’s inside of you, that’s what will give you your success.”

Robinson resides in Cincinnati. Her husband, Maurice Robinson, is an assistant chief of the Cincinnati Police Department. She has two grown children, Tina Marie Reece and Ricky Aaron Dees.

(Article by Richard Curtis, Cincinnati State Media Coordinator)