By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Parker

MASON - A city judge criticized last week for ordering an officer to supervise a theft suspect who lived about 30 miles away said he was within his rights and will continue to use police officers in that capacity.

But Judge George Parker said he leaves it up to an officer to decide how much supervision the suspect needs.

His comments came after police officials questioned a recent order that prompted the department to take two beat officers off the street for more than 12 hours to provide round-the-clock surveillance of a woman who lived in Hamilton County's Green Township.

An official with the state police chiefs association said the judge's order was unheard of in his 30 years on the job. But a Mason councilman suggested that police might have overreacted.

Parker said he could not talk specifically about the case involved because it would violate judicial ethics.

However, he said he can give orders to police officers because state law considers them ex-officio bailiffs, which requires them to do anything the municipal judge, his clerk or bailiffs ask of them. He said he considers officers an additional resource to his court.

"Would I expect them to do 24-7 surveillance? I would expect that if a person is going to violate the law, that the person whose job it is to supervise their conduct ... be able to find them 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Parker said. "I give them the latitude to do that, if that's what they need to do."

In the case in question, Parker lowered the woman's bond during a hearing on June 25, allowing her parents to pay $1,300 to bail her out. He then ordered police to assist probation officers in supervising the suspect so she didn't abscond to Florida, where she has relatives.

The woman, charged with six felony counts of theft, was accused of stealing $1,300 in Social Security and pension checks from an 80-year-old woman for whom she cared. Parker also referred her case to a county grand jury.

Police said they thought the order instructed them to keep watch on the woman, and they took the ultimate action for fear of being thrown in jail if they didn't do it to Parker's satisfaction.

Parker's order came less than two months after he initiated the arrest of Police Chief Ron Ferrell for refusing a court order to transport prisoners from the county jail because he didn't have the staff.

But internal police department memos indicate that the judge gave conflicting orders in the case.

According to an audio recording of the court hearing obtained by The Enquirer, Parker ordered arresting Officer Toni Hoelke to "find another Mason officer who will assist (probation officers) in supervising" Theresa Disque while she was out on bail "or Officer Hoelke will do it when she is around or available.

However, his written order issued hours after the hearing softened the wording to say "may supervise." By that time, police had already followed Disque home and were staked out outside her apartment.

Piqua Police Chief Phil Potter, immediate past president of the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, said Parker's actions were out of line.

"This is far beyond the issue of acting as a bailiff of the court. I believe it's a misuse of police officer's time and what they are really intended for," he said.

"These are judicial-type duties that should be for an employee of the court. It's a perfect reason why an employee cannot serve two masters. He should serve at the direction of the police chief, not the judge of the court."

Police broke off the special detail at 8 a.m. the next day after following Disque to her scheduled meeting at the probation department - about the same time Parker released Disque from pretrial supervision.

Mason City Manager Scot Lahrmer said he decided not to pursue the issue with Parker or a city council committee set up to mediate differences with municipal court after learning that Parker had modified his order by the time it was put into writing.

The committee was directed to act as an intermediary following Ferrell's May 15 arrest on contempt charges, which were dropped in a settlement that included a car for Parker's bailiffs so they could transport prisoners when needed.

City Councilman Tom Grossmann, who heads council's court liaison committee, said he thinks the latest tiff is a misunderstanding, and that police might have gone beyond what was expected of them.

"It's not clear to me what the court is saying is the responsibility of police anyway. He doesn't order them to have 24-hour surveillance of the woman," Grossmann said.

He agreed that Ferrell's arrest might have influenced the police department's actions.

"Everybody is sensitive now to not violating the court's orders," he said. "They've seen that the court is not going to look with great sympathy necessarily on people who violate the orders of the court."

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com