Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Ohio newspapers:
Akron officer’s reinstatement raises troubling questions
The Akron Beacon Journal
Dec. 28
The reinstatement of a fired Akron police officer for making numerous inappropriate social media comments disappointed many in our community.
But a reading of the arbitrator’s ruling implementing a 60-day suspension instead of termination might be even more concerning for those who believe city leadership must demand absolute integrity from officers to maintain the trust of all citizens.
The city fired Detective James Anthony in February after determining he violated the police department’s social media policy by making numerous improper posts, including one exposed by a Cleveland television station in late 2018.
“How is it that no one has offed that dipshit asshat Farrakhan?” Anthony posted on Facebook three days after a gunman killed 11 people at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh. Louis Farrakhan is a leader of the Nation of Islam, which the Southern Poverty Law Center calls an anti-Semitic hate group. At the time, Anthony’s personal Facebook page carried the seal of the city of Akron in the section listing his employer.
Yes, this is a police officer publicly wondering why someone has not been assassinated.
The incident was far from Anthony’s first violation for sharing his far-right political views as detailed in a 243-page report the city compiled, but it was the first to get strong attention from city leaders, including the police chief and mayor.
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 appealed the termination, arguing the city failed to follow progressive discipline protocols required in its labor contract.
In fact, the contract only allows city leaders to consider previous performance infractions within one calendar year when imposing new discipline, according to the arbitrator’s report. Only repeat violations can be considered for up to two years. In short, an officer could commit the same serious violation every 25 months and city leaders would face a difficult legal battle to fire the officer.
How can the city administer progressive discipline with such rules in place? Only by diligently monitoring its officers and efficiently documenting violations. That did not happen in this case, at least from the arbitrator’s perspective.
Anthony’s Facebook friends included numerous police colleagues and his direct supervisor, some of whom presumably saw some or all of a series of improper posts in late 2018 culminating with the Farrakhan post. The arbitrator found four posts that amounted to conduct unbecoming an officer and ordered four suspensions totaling 60 days.
But older posts and previous conduct issues largely tied to Anthony sharing his conservative political views were deemed legally irrelevant. Never mind that Anthony had been issued warnings on six occasions and had his pay docked three times. None of these actions, including removal from a case, appeared to change his behavior.
And after his firing, Anthony was charged with driving under the influence by a Cuyahoga Falls police officer who reported Anthony claimed he deserved special treatment from the officer because of his 23 years in law enforcement. Anthony later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, according to court records.
Some will argue that police officers don’t lose their First Amendment rights to free speech just because of their job. That’s true to a point.
Officers also voluntarily accept the significant responsibility that comes with carrying a badge and the power to arrest people. It’s in their own interest to set a superior example of citizenship to ensure the credibility of their department and maintain the support of residents they swear to protect.
We commend Mayor Dan Horrigan for standing tall in this fight even if Anthony will now return to work Jan. 6. We can only hope Anthony learned his lesson this time.
Online: https://bit.ly/2tc3DLz
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Reopen cases of homicides misidentified
The Canton Repository
Dec. 29
Unexplained bruises on children.
“Self-inflicted” injuries on men, women and kids that defied logic, commonsense and in extreme cases laws of physics.
Conflicts of interest in rulings on deaths involving relatives, friends or his own patients.
In the decades since former Stark County Coroner “Gus” Shaheen left office - and to some extent even while he held the job - whispers from others in law enforcement and inside the judicial system suggested not everything over his 18-year career was entirely accurate.
Or believable.
To be fair, the times Shaheen made a decision that others would deem dubious represents a small fraction of the more than 8,600 rulings he made from 1962 to 1980. A World War II veteran, Shaheen often was described as generous, treating some patients for free, and was widely known for his countless hours devoted to working with local athletic teams over three decades.
He came from a family that has contributed greatly to our community. It founded St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church and has operated several successful businesses.
Yet something in Shaheen’s work was amiss too often to dismiss. It raises the question: Did people in Stark County get away with murder?
In the beginning of what became a yearlong examination by Canton Repository reporters Tim Botos and Shane Hoover into Shaheen’s rulings, rumblings of outright errors became louder, and over time tips came with greater detail. With meticulous effort, the suspicions raised could be supported - and sometimes refuted - amid more than 14,000 pages of coroner’s reports and related public records held by local health departments and law enforcement agencies the two reporters examined.
Most alarming: Botos and Hoover found five instances when evidence, according to medical and forensic experts, clearly pointed to what should have been homicide rulings but Shaheen had said were accidental or natural deaths.
Why would Shaheen be so dismissive of what today seems like overwhelming evidence to the contrary of his rulings? That question probably never will be answered.
In many of the rulings where renewed examination found discrepancies, relatives of victims or the likely suspects in possible crimes died long ago, so there is little point in pursuing those old cases today.
Many, but not all.
And if the possibility exists an uncharged murderer remains in our midst, that case should be pursued.
So, we were pleased to hear that Stark County Prosecutor John D. Ferrero’s office will review some of the cases where the rulings appear most blatantly incorrect.
“There are a few we need to look at,” Ferrero said.
Specifically, Fred Scott, the county’s chief criminal prosecutor, said Ferrero’s office will contact the Ohio Highway Patrol regarding the death in 1972 of Lang Jones, a patient at Massillon State Hospital. He died from bleeding caused by a throat injury sustained during a struggle with orderlies.
Shaheen ruled his death an accident. And while Jones’ death probable was unintentional, the cause was homicide, by legal definition, and a ruling as such would have opened the door to an investigation that didn’t occur when it should have - nearly four decades ago.
Justice delayed is justice denied.
Might something come of the Jones case or any others reopened following the work of Botos and Hoover that raises questions about several decades-old rulings? Only time will tell.
Ferrero compared re-examining such old cases to opening “a big can of worms.”
We understand. And that’s why we applaud the prosecutor’s office for considering a fresh look at homicide cases long forgotten.
After all, sometimes you need a big can of worms to catch a big fish.
Online: https://bit.ly/35e9v45
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Racial disparities in police stops demands attention
Cincinnati Enquirer
Dec. 20
The results from a study of police stops in Ohio’s three largest cities – Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus – are troubling and demand closer attention from law enforcement and our elected officials. Cincinnati’s data underscores the need to make the city’s landmark Collaborative Agreement – a cornerstone of the previous decade’s police reforms – a priority by committing more funding and staff to implementing its tenets.
An examination of police stops by reporters from the nonprofit newsroom Eye on Ohio, The Cincinnati Enquirer and researchers from Stanford University’s Big Local News program confirmed what many African Americans and other people of color have argued for years: police officers stop and arrest them at significantly higher rates than whites.
In Cincinnati, blacks were stopped at a 30% higher rate than whites. Blacks made up 52% of all vehicle and pedestrian stops between 2012 and 2017, despite being 43% of the city’s population. And once stopped, police in Cincinnati arrested more than three times the number of blacks pulled over as whites, 15,127 compared to 4,315. Blacks made up 76% of all arrests, compared to 22% for whites.
Analysis of traffic stops in Columbus and Cleveland showed similar results.
It’s not fair or accurate to suggest that all of these stops were racially motivated, particularly without the proper context. But the existence of racial bias in policing cannot be dismissed outright either. At the very least, the data shows that black neighborhoods are more aggressively policed than white neighborhoods, resulting in a higher risk of being profiled and pulled over for “driving while black.” In Cincinnati, police made 79% more total stops per resident in predominantly black areas.
The Collaborative Agreement spawned from a lawsuit brought by citizens who alleged discrimination and excessive use of force by Cincinnati police officers. The deal aimed to improve police-community relations in the city amid rising tensions between police and black citizens after riots in 2001. It has been touted as a national model of collaboration among police, city agencies and the community. But the city’s fidelity to the agreement has waned in the years since its inception and agencies that arose from the pact, such as the Citizens Complaint Authority, have been underfunded and understaffed.
Mayor John Cranley’s much-ballyhooed Collaborative refresh process hasn’t delivered on its promises so far. After nearly two years, little reliable data exists to show the community the impact of arrests, traffic and pedestrian stops by officers, policies regarding body-worn cameras, police training and the status of an independent body set up to review police conduct. The refresh process has also been hindered by personality clashes between principals at the collaborative table, namely Dan Hils, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police, and Iris Roley, a community representative.
For Cincinnati to remain a leader in police-community relations, city, law enforcement and community leaders must continue to work to achieve the objectives of the Collaborative Agreement. Bias-free policing demands transparency, due diligence, accountability and the willingness to use data gathered to shape solutions.
Like all cities, Cincinnati has an imperfect policing record. But unlike some cities, Cincinnati has shown a willingness and the courage to pull back the covers of its police patterns and practices to see what lies underneath, no matter how unpleasant or uncomfortable the findings.
The police stop data is a reminder that even with the progress brought about by the Collaborative Agreement over the past 17 years, much work remains to be done. The city should start by fortifying the Citizens Complaint Authority by hiring the minimum of five investigators required under the city’s own administrative code. Currently, there are just three. The city should also take steps to speed up the process and meet the 90-day deadline for resolving citizen complaints against officers.
There also needs to be more buy-in from the police union and leadership. The Enquirer’s research found the police department was less focused now on problem-solving projects than in the past. The city, in a report earlier this year, released data showing 56 police problem-solving projects were initiated in the first six months of 2018, and 19 were initiated in the same period of 2019. And fewer projects have been initiated under Cincinnati Police Chief Elliot Isaac than under his predecessor, Jeffrey Blackwell, according to the city data and the independent review. This reinforces the notion among the department’s critics that police don’t see a problem or need for reform.
Nothing is more corrosive to the overall health and safety of our community than mistrust and bad police-community relations. Racial profiling dehumanizes, humiliates and stokes fears in those victimized by it. That is why the Collaborative Agreement is critically important to improving awareness and training so police are prepared to make the right decisions while on patrol.
Online: https://bit.ly/2MHdbF4
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For better or worse: What Ohio’s General Assembly did and didn’t do in 2019
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Dec. 29
The Ohio General Assembly’s work in 2019, to borrow words from the Anglican liturgy, deserves criticism not only for what it did, but also for those things it left undone. Even so, Republicans and Democrats reached consensus on some matters, in sharp contrast to Washington’s endless friction. For constructive Statehouse leadership, the legislature’s GOP quarterbacks deserve credit.
True, on core issues to fellow Republicans, the legislature’s GOP majority did what was expected, even if it was misguided. It passed, and Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, signed a so-called “heartbeat bill” outlawing abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the law.
Often as not, though, 2019’s session tended to nuts-and-bolts governance, something eased by good working relationships that Senate President Larry Obhof, a Medina Republican, House Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican from Perry County’s Glenford, have with DeWine.
Initially, a smooth House session was far from certain; on January’s opening day, Householder, speaker from 2001 through 2005, regained the speakership by overthrowing, with the help of 26 Democrats, last session’s speaker, Gallia County Republican Ryan Smith. Householder quickly consolidated his power, and, on an issue-by-issue basis, continued to work with Democrats.
Among the session accomplishments Obhof highlights is Senate Bill 1, passed in May, that requires state agencies to slash regulatory rules. Then in June, Obhof, who became Senate president in 2017, achieved bipartisan consensus on the Senate’s budget plan, It passed 33-0, the Senate’s first unanimous vote since 2007 on one of its budget rewrites.
Householder noted that the budget, signed July 18 by DeWine, provides record-high state aid for K-12 schools, even while, as Obhof pointed out, the budget cuts state taxes by $700 million. (That sum would have been better spent on state needs, but tax cuts send a powerful message to GOP voters.) On a topic of special importance to Greater Clevelanders, the budget funds DeWine’s H2Ohio program to protect Ohio’s water resources, led off by Lake Erie, a priority Obhof said he shares. The Senate and House did differ with DeWine over boosting Ohio’s gasoline tax. The governor wanted an 18-cents-per-gallon increase to fund badly need road work. The House wanted a 10.7-cent rise, the Senate, a 6-cent boost. Householder and Obhof compromised at10.5 cents, increasing what was a 28 cents-per-gallon tax to 38.5 cents. The increase funds state highway repairs and helps local governments with transportation improvements, Householder said. Meanwhile, on the open-government front, the House finished installing Ohio Channel cameras in all the House’s committee rooms, Householder said, to let Ohioans witness the arenas in which House members review, amend and approve bills.
Beyond the budget, this year’s most hotly debated measure was likely House Bill 6. It requires electricity customers to bail out FirstEnergy Solution’s Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear plants, something. Householder ardently pushed for. He said HB 6 in time will save ratepayers a net of $1.3 billion and spur solar energy projects. (Worth noting: HB 6 couldn’t have passed without “yes” votes from some Democrats in the state Senate and Ohio House.)
Much is still on the Statehouse to-do list, some of it likely tackled after March 17’s primary election. This issue should be Priority No. 1: Real school funding reform. Legally speaking, it’s almost 23 years overdue. And that is a scandal.
Online: https://bit.ly/39tVS4b
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