1. Name and Address of Reporting Person
   Finnerty, Corinne R.
   P.O. Box 90
   North Vernon, IN 47265
2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
   First Financial Bancorp (FFBC)
3. IRS or Social Security Number of Reporting Person (Voluntary)
   ###-##-####
4. Statement for Month/Year
   10/2002
5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)
6. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable)
   (X) Director                   ( ) 10% Owner
   ( ) Officer (give title below) ( ) Other (specify below)
7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line)
   (X) Form filed by One Reporting Person
   ( ) Form filed by More than One Reporting Person

TABLE I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned

+---------------------------------+----------+-------------+-----------------------------+----------------+-----------+------------+
|1. Title of Security             |2. Trans- |3. Trans-    |4. Securities Acquired (A)   |5. Amount of    |6. Owner-  |7. Nature   |
|                                 |   action |   action    |   or Disposed of (D)        |   Securities   |   ship    |   of In-   |
|                                 |   Date   |   Code      |                             |   Beneficially |   Form:   |   direct   |
|                                 |          |             |                             |   Owned at     |   Direct  |   Bene-    |
|                                 |  (Month/ |             |                             |   End of       |   (D) or  |   ficial   |
|                                 |   Day/   +-------+-----+-----------+------+----------+   Month        |   Indirect|   Owner-   |
|                                 |   Year)  |Code   |V    |Amount     |A/D   |Price     |                |   (I)     |   ship     |
+---------------------------------+----------+-------+-----+-----------+------+----------+----------------+-----------+------------+
                                                                                            
Common Stock                                                                              317              D
Common Stock                                                                              20086            I           joint
                                                                                                                       w/spouse
FFBC (Directors Fee Stock Plan)    10/07/2002 P             140         A      $18.2500   2102             D





TABLE II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned

+-------------+--------+----------+---------+-----------+---------------------+----------------+----------+--------+-------+-------+
|1.           |2.      |3.        |4.       |5.         |6.                   |7.              |8.        |9.      |10.    |11.    |
|             |        |          |         |           |                     |                |          |Number  |Owner- |       |
|             |        |          |         |           |                     |                |          |of      |ship   |       |
|             |        |          |         |           |                     |                |          |Deriv-  |Form of|       |
|             |        |          |         |           |                     |Title and Amount|          |ative   |Deriv- |       |
|             |        |          |         |           |                     |of Underlying   |          |Secur-  |ative  |Nature |
|             |Conver- |          |         |Number of  |                     |Securities      |          |ities   |Secur- |of     |
|             |sion or |          |         |Derivative |Date Exercisable     +-------+--------+          |Benefi- |ity:   |In-    |
|             |Exercise|          |         |Securities |and Expiration Date  |       |Amount  |          |cially  |Direct |direct |
|             |Price of|Transac-  |Transac- |Acquired(A)|(Month/Day/Year)     |       |or      |          |Owned   |(D) or |Bene-  |
|Title of     |Deriv-  |tion Date |tion Code|Disposed(D)+----------+----------+       |Number  |Price of  |at End  |In-    |ficial |
|Derivative   |ative   |(Month/   +------+--+-----+-----+Date Exer-|Expira-   |       |of      |Derivative|of      |direct |Owner- |
|Security     |Security|Day/Year) |Code  |V |(A)  |(D)  |cisable   |tion Date |Title  |Shares  |Security  |Month   |(I)    |ship   |
+-------------+--------+----------+------+--+-----+-----+----------+----------+-------+--------+----------+--------+-------+-------+
                                                                                  
1998 (NQ)      $21.5958                                             04/28/2008 Common                      6195     D
Stock Option                                                                   Stock
2001 (NQ)      $15.6                                                04/24/2011 Common                      8663     D
Stock Option                                                                   Stock

Explanation of Responses:


SIGNATURE OF REPORTING PERSON
/s/ Terri J. Ziepfel

DATE
10/07/2002