EVENDALE — At another forum to underscore why opponents of Officer Stephen Roach want him removed from the police force here, a former federal attorney Saturday said the officer's controversial history will affect future criminal cases.

        Sharon Zealey, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said a Cincinnati Police internal affairs report could jeopardize cases where he is the primary witness. The report found that Officer Roach violated police procedures, then was dishonest to investigators about the fatal April 7, 2001, shooting of a fleeing, unarmed man.

Roach

        “If an officer or agent had a credibility problem of a finding of dishonesty, that officer would not be used as a witness in a case,” she said.

        During the two-hour meeting at the Evendale campus of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, a portion of Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher's speech to Cincinnati City Council March 19, when he released the internal affairs report, was shown.

        Cincinnati Police Spec. Scotty Johnson, who participated in Saturday's forum, read a memo that Chief Streicher released March 19 saying dishonesty “cannot and will not be tolerated in our organization” and officers who lie to investigators can expect to be terminated.

        “If you cannot trust the people that have been given the authority to keep the law of the land, where can you go?” Spec. Johnson told Saturday's crowd of about 100 people.

        The forum was another sign that the battle over Officer Roach is far from over in this quiet Hamilton County village.

        Since he was hired in Evendale in January, Officer Roach has received mostly superior evaluations from supervisors. After the release of the Cincinnati report, however, Evendale's police chief pulled him from the streets and put him on administrative duty until he could clear his name.

        Officer Roach's attorney argued in a grievance hearing last month that the village couldn't keep him off the streets because he has done a good job there. He also noted that Officer Roach was acquitted of criminal charges from the shooting.

        Evendale's mayor agreed and ordered Officer Roach back on the street May 2.

        Opponents say the strife has torn the village apart, while the officer's supporters say they should get over it and move on.

        “What I'm afraid of is that it will get to a point of — whether Officer Roach stays or goes — we will have winners and losers and have a community that doesn't know how to deal with itself,” Evendale resident Eugene Rutz said.

        Dr. Thomas Shockley, a Concerned Citizens leader, said he and others have spoken with village businesses about a “form of action the businesses may participate in.”

        He declined to elaborate or to name the businesses.

        Another option could be recalling village council members, said Marc Mezibov, an attorney representing residents in a lawsuit before the Ohio Supreme Court that would force a referendum on Officer Roach's hiring.

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