BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SOUTH LEBANON -- Problems with the South Lebanon Police Department have been like a dripping faucet. Former chief fired. Officer accused of sexual misconduct. Missing police property. Officers investigating each other.
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PUBLIC MEETING
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The special meeting starts at 7 tonight at the South Lebanon Municipal Building, 99 N. High St.
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Mayor James Smith is tired of it. And he doesn't think a simple patch will fix the leak. He's ready to pull the plug.
The village council is expected to vote tonight on Mr. Smith's recommendation to disband the four-person department and contract with the Warren County sheriff's office for police service.
While Mr. Smith said the decision to support disbanding the local police force was difficult, it also was necessary. He compared the department and its problems to a cancer that must be removed. But Police Chief Derrick Hollon, a 13-year veteran of the force, asked: "If you've got cancer on your leg, do you cut off your head?" Residents appear torn over the issue. Some have said the sheriff's office could offer comparable service at a cheaper cost. Others have signed petitions against the proposal, carried signs pleading to "Save our police department," and heckled council members at meetings.
When the issue of contracting service with the sheriff's office arose last month, village officials said the move would save money. Nearly half of the village's 1998 budget of $537,717 is earmarked for police service, and South Lebanon, a primarily blue-collar village of 2,800 in southern Warren County, could use sewer, water and road improvements.
Warren County Sheriff Tom Ariss offered to contract four deputies at a price of $45,000 a piece. Under the contract, the village would be responsible for providing equipment and uniforms and maintaining a police outpost.
Chief Hollon said his calculations show a county contract would cost the village nearly $40,000 more per year than paying its police force. Village Solicitor Jack Quinn estimated a county contract would save the village $50,000.
But both sides agree now that talk of money was just the surface. The real issue: personnel problems.
"They're history," Mr. Quinn said of the South Lebanon force. "They've killed themselves. Infighting is what's really hurt them." Mr. Smith took the unusual step last week of having a two-page letter detailing some of the infighting hand-delivered to village residents.
The department has been consumed with internal affairs investigations, issuing reprimands and firing off memos, Mr. Smith said. In turn, he added, the village's police service has suffered.
Chief Hollon doesn't consider the personnel problems to be any more severe than at other departments.
But the village council -- in an unprecedented move -- reduced his 1997 salary of $39,000 by $1,500 for this year in part because it was dissatisfied with his job performance, Mr. Smith said. Further, the council placed Village Administrator John Louallen over the police department.
Mr. Smith reprimanded Chief Hollon twice in April for not following one of Mr. Louallen's directives.
Chief Hollon has asked the mayor and council to dismiss Sgt. Pete Stemple on at least one occasion.
Sgt. Stemple, whose mother, Sandra, is the tax commissioner of South Lebanon and a Waynesville councilwoman, could not be reached Monday or Tuesday.
Records indicate Sgt. Stemple was the target of at least four internal investigations. Three of those were conducted by other South Lebanon officers.
In 1995, the Warren County sheriff's office investigated allegations of sexual misconduct against Sgt. Stemple, but no charges were filed. Records show the witness failed to appear for scheduled meetings and was unwilling to cooperate with prosecutors.
The village didn't fire Sgt. Stemple after the sexual allegations were made because no charges were filed, Mr. Quinn said.
But the village did dismiss former Chief Les Kilburn in 1993 for allegations of theft -- even though a Southeastern Indiana jury cleared him of the charges.
The allegations stemmed from reports by Amish farmers who said Mr. Kilburn failed to pay for items he'd bid on during an Indiana auction. Mr. Kilburn unsuccessfully sued the village several times, claiming they wrongly dismissed him from his job.
Officer Bryan Wanless attributed the move to disband the department as part of the village's "good ol' boy system."
Officer Wanless contacted the U.S. Department of Labor because he was concerned the village wasn't paying overtime or compensation time correctly. In March, the village was ordered to pay nearly $6,000 in back overtime pay to four of its officers, including Officer Wanless, who received nearly $3,300. The village also changed its system of compensation time for the police department.
Personnel files show Officer Wanless has received at least two reprimands, one of which was for rudeness to council. He was fired from Bethesda Hospital in 1991, the same year he joined the South Lebanon Police Department as an auxiliary officer. According to a voice-stress analysis supervised by the Warren County sheriff's office, Officer Wanless said he was fired for taking a weapon onto hospital property.
Officer Wanless said he thinks contracting service to the sheriff's office would translate into poorer police protection for South Lebanon.
"If the sheriff's office comes down here, there is no more community policing," he said. "The people will no longer have any input into their department."
Not so, Mr. Quinn said. The sheriff's deputies will patrol South Lebanon just as the force does. Deputies will walk among residents, get to know the troublemakers and cruise the streets for speeders. In fact, Mr. Quinn said he thinks residents will get more for their money because the sheriff's office offers a deeper pool of resources, such as the crime lab and detectives.
Of the 900 police agencies in Ohio, about 50 contract with sheriff's offices, including Deerfield Township in Warren County.
