When Cincinnati police officers break rules involving use of force, they have little to fear.
That is because officers charged with making such mistakes - some of which result in injury to suspects - frequently receive little or no punishment, an Enquirer investigation has found.
The findings - based on a review of two years' worth of investigations about use of force, injuries to prisoners and citizen complaints - raise questions about the police division's ability to police itself.
Police and city officials say they are confident police can adequately investigate themselves. "The police can . . . do a mighty fine job of investigating itself and getting to the facts," said Kent Ryan, Cincinnati's safety director.
Where the public and police division frequently are at odds, he said, is over the outcome of an investigation - both its findings and any punishment. Even then, say some police, punishment is frequent, swift and, when needed, severe.
"Look at the record. You show me where we let misconduct go," said Pete Ridder, president of the Fraternal Order of Police and a police officer for 17 years. "You show me where we were aware of misconduct and just let it go, and I will say there is a problem. But when there is misconduct, it is punished.
Capt. Alan Matthews, who heads the Internal Investigations Section, said that officers who, for instance, do not report use of force are "going to get hammered."
"You won't be working here anymore," said Capt. Matthews.
But the review of more than 1,400 cases shows that officers rarely are heavily disciplined or lose their jobs over mistakes made involving use of force. In fact, only one officer lost his job over such a case during the two-year period: Officer David Beal, fired in 1995 after choking a juvenile at the county's juvenile detention center.
Several other officers were far more fortunate. Officer Calvin Johnson got no punishment for striking his gun against 21-year-old Martin T. Johnson, causing a cut eyebrow. He was arresting the man on charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and failure to comply.
The injuries required a trip to the hospital. The officer was counseled "that using a weapon as a club in this situation was not acceptable," stated a March 1995 memo by Lt. James Howard.
In the case of Officer Charles Hains, suspect Barry Headley alleged that in September 1996, the officer arrested him without reason for disorderly conduct while intoxicated, threw him to the ground, sprayed chemical irritant for no reason and kept hitting his brakes during the ride to the justice center so that the suspect would strike the car's protective screen.
At a December 1996 pre-disciplinary hearing, it was determined that Officer Hains was guilty of neglect of duty for not reporting the restraining force and subsequent injury to his prisoner. The other allegations made by Mr. Headley were not substantiated, police concluded.
The punishment for Officer Hains: He lost eight hours of vacation time.
Officer Paul Broxterman also was found to have neglected his duties for failing to report the extensive injuries to Jerry Blackwell during his arrest on April Fool's Day in 1995. Investigators said Mr. Blackwell received a facial abrasion "bigger than a silver dollar, with fresh blood dried around it."
Nor did the officer report use of force when he arrested Mr. Blackwell, then 28, on a disorderly conduct charge while at a Skyline Chili on Glenway Avenue.
The division's internal investigators also determined that Officer Broxterman failed to have a supervisor review the arrest before he initiated a resisting arrest charge against Mr. Blackwell.
The punishment: The officer was reprimanded and suspended for one day. He has since been promoted to sergeant.
Among other cases:
In May 1996, Sgt. Kenneth Schrand failed to maintain adequate safety of a prisoner under his control and failed to report the prisoner's allegations that police held him by his hair and purposely struck his head on a police car, causing a laceration to his forehead, a police investigation concluded. The case involved the arrest of Glenn Hartman, who needed four stitches to close his wound. He was charged with driving-under-the-influence; Sgt. Schrand received a reprimand.
Officer James Locke pushed a man at the justice center in February 1995, causing the man to fall into a metal locker and suffer cuts above one eye. Internal investigators said the officer should have used chemical irritant on Terry Coleman - who had been charged with disorderly conduct while intoxicated, obstructing justice and menacing - instead of pushing him. Capt. Robert Biddle, in a memo, said Officer Locke's usually calm demeanor was overcome by Mr. Coleman's badgering. The officer received a reprimand for not following police procedure - there was no finding of excessive force - and was referred to police psychiatrists "to insure there are no (underlying) factors which may have contributed to this unusual response by Police Officer Locke to provocation."
Sgt. Howard Pyles received a reprimand and a 16-hour suspension for omitting key information in a use-of-force investigation into the January 1996 arrest of 14-year-old Michael Steele. Investigators said Mr. Steele's recollection "of the use of force by the officers is not accurately represented in the use of force report," and "the report minimizes the amount of force reported by Michael Steele." Sgt. Pyles has filed for arbitration on the matter.
Two superior officers, Sgt. Fred Williamson and Lt. Aaron Taylor, received 24-hour suspensions for not properly investigating a use-of-force report. The case involved 73-year-old Susan Miller, who suffered a broken leg and broken fingers while being arrested by Officer Margaret Scrafano in May 1995. The suspension of Sgt. Williamson was later reduced to an oral warning by an arbitrator; Lt. Taylor also ended up with only an oral warning in an agreement between the city's law department and the police division.
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