Former Cincinnati Police Officer Stephen Roach will ask a Hamilton County judge today to seal unfavorable reports on him issued by Cincinnati police and city officials.

Roach

        Officer Roach — now an officer in Evendale — was acquitted in September of negligent homicide and obstructing official business in the shooting death of Timothy Thomas, which sparked the April 2001 riots.

        Municipal Judge Ralph E. “Ted” Winkler, who found Officer Roach not guilty, granted a November request to expunge the misdemeanor charges from public record. He also will hear today's case.

        In court documents obtained Wednesday by the Enquirer, Officer Roach contends that neither the police Internal Investigations report or the city Office of Municipal Investigation report on him were “for a legitimate administrative purpose since (he'd) left employment with the city of Cincinnati in January 2002.”

        “The only reasons these reports were released, months after Stephen Roach left his employment with the city of Cincinnati, were to cause employment harm and public furor to Stephen Roach, and serve the political ends of the city of Cincinnati,” the court motion states.

        Since his hiring, some Evendale residents have objected to the Harrison man's presence on their police force.

        Judge Winkler will have to decide whether this new request falls under his previous order.

        In that decision, he stipulated that all “official records” used by police in the criminal investigation into Mr. Thomas's death could be used by the city for its disciplinary reports.

        The documents would be available to the city for only six months and then be sealed or expunged. That deadline ended in March.

        City prosecutors plan to attend today's hearing and will likely fight the request.

        The reports were issued in March and and this month. They say the officer violated police procedure when he ran with his finger on the trigger of his gun and disgraced the Police Department when he lied about the shooting afterward.

        As part of the police report, Chief Tom Streicher told the city's 1,000 police officers that “dishonesty will not be tolerated.” Officers who lie can expect to be terminated, he said.

Holiday forecast: More on the road
Performing arts center planned for Blue Ash
Can Odd Fellows be saved?
Tickets not I-75 answer, police say
$1.2M cable barriers planned to make stretch safer
Councilman accused of discrimination
Former football player accuses city of coverup
Judge agrees to seal record of Wehrung
Loveland picks superintendent
New simulator no dummy
Police officers, citizens honored for teamwork
Roach: Seal old reports
Sabis audit stymied by missing documents
Seven schools win national honor
Tristate A.M. Report
UC votes to renew NKU reciprocity
HOWARD: Some Good News
RADEL: Watered down?
Deerfield plans senior housing site
Defense to begin in cemetery case
Lebanon opens its own city phone service
Ohio Senate approves drug discounts for seniors
Six employees file lawsuits
State budget plan still elusive
Traficant hires lawyers to challenge jury selection
Worker tells of 'label stacking'
Wright-Pat privatizes base housing
Budget crunch squeezes teachers
Diocese defends accused bishop
Ft. Wright to settle suit over Wal-Mart
GOP seizes on land dispute as campaign issue
Hazmat funding awaits response
Mansion renovations to begin
Zoo opens gorilla exhibit today