Wednesday, March 29, 2000
Drug strike force got results
Chief facing scrutiny
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FLORENCE — The regional drug unit now mired in controversy over a sexual harassment allegation has a performance record that includes large increases in drug and cash seizures, records show.
A review of the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force's work over the past two years shows that its six detectives seized more than 1,300 grams of cocaine last year — more than four times the amount the unit seized in 1998. Seizures of illegal narcotics nearly quadrupled, too.
And confiscated money increased from $45,990 in 1998 to $71,330 last year.
The drug strike force faces an ongoing internal investigation of its boss, Dan Steers. The strike force's board is reviewing a complaint that Mr. Steers created a hostile work environment and permitted sexual harassment to occur.
His performance will be discussed today at a meeting of the strike force board.
Mr. Steers has denied the allegations but has offered to resign if the board agrees to his terms, said his lawyer, Steve Wolnitzek. But Mr. Steers doesn't want to quit.
The drug unit, created almost 20 years ago, operates with officers from Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties. Its board consists of chiefs of those three police departments, as well as administrators from each county. Board members have declined to comment.
Records show that the drug unit under Mr. Steers stepped up its seizures of powder cocaine, LSD and cash related to drug trafficking. But detectives confiscated significantly less pot last year — about 56,000 grams, compared with about 98,000 in 1998.
At the same time, detectives spent about 2,000 more hours on investigations in 1999 and spent about twice as much, almost $22,000, to buy drugs for evidence.
This year the budget hit $1,059,000, with a cash carry-over balance of about $700,000 in the bank as of Dec. 31, according to agency expenditure records.
Most of that carry-over money came from two big cases the unit worked, one involving a major ring of pot dealers. Seizures and forfeitures in that case alone sent more than $300,000 to the agency's bank account in late 1998.
Mr. Steers retired after 30 years with the Cincinnati Police Division to become the executive director of Northern Kentucky's strike force in 1998.
Although Mr. Steers oversees six experienced detectives and a $1 million budget, he has never had a performance review in Northern Kentucky. He has asked at least once for an evaluation, according to minutes of board meetings, but he never got it. He is on paid leave.
Evaluations from his work on the Cincinnati force were mostly favorable.
Each county chips in $30,000 to help support the regional strike force, in addition to paying the salaries and benefits of the two officers each county assigns to the strike force.
Of the eight employees in the unit now, including Mr. Steers, two are women — secretary Nancy Shafer and Paula Redman, a Boone County officer who specializes in pharmaceutical cases.
A third, Sgt. Debbie Brow ning, worked in the unit for about five years until recently, when Mr. Steers transferred her; she does drug investigative work at the airport.
Her husband, Kenton County Police Chief Mike Browning, is a member of the strike force board, which oversees the unit.
But that relationship does not constitute a conflict of interest or violation of the county's ethics, said Garry Edmondson, a board member for Kenton County.
Chief Browning does not vote on any action that directly involves her. And Ms. Browning had already been working for the police department when her husband became chief.
After 30 years as a law officer in Ohio, Mr. Steers has not been allowed police officer status in Kentucky because the strike force board is preventing him from obtaining certification, his lawyer said.
Mr. Steers has bought a house in Edgewood because he thought he had to live in Kentucky to become a sworn, certified Kentucky officer, according to minutes of strike force board meetings. Being a sworn officer is important, Mr. Steers had argued, in case he needs to be involved hands-on in an investigation.
Getting the designation would also mean he would be enrolled in a police pension fund. The lack of certification is costing him money, he told the board repeatedly.
Nevertheless, the three counties failed to sign an agreement that would have required the three counties to share any expenses for things such as Mr. Steers' worker's compensation and pension.
“They just never signed off on it,” Mr. Edmondson said.
“Kenton County didn't think it should bear all those costs.”
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