By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Paul Rolich (left) with police Chief Ernest Howard at a goodbye party Friday at Monroe City Hall. (Glenn Hartong photo)

MONROE - Ernest Howard's informal title just might outshine the one emblazoned on his polished brass badge.

"I call him Dad; he's one of the good guys," says Mike Davis, a Middletown police officer who worked alongside Howard long before he became Monroe's police chief in 1990. "He eats, breathes, lives and sleeps police work. So he's going to have a tough time retiring."

Howard, 68, wrapped up a 421/2-year career Friday. State officials say he is a vanishing breed: A police official who's had such a lengthy career in the same area.

Howard's officers call him chief but view him "kind of like a father figure," says Monroe police Sgt. Brian Curlis.

"He was always willing to give us his advice," Curlis says. "A lot of the guys that are here weren't even born yet in '61, when he started out. ...We're all going to miss him and his knowledge on so many different types of cases."

Howard spent 13 years as Monroe's first full-time chief nine years beyond the average tenure among city police chiefs nationwide.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

1961: Howard joins Middletown police force. 1971: Two years after he is promoted to sergeant, Howard sees an officer under his command, Terry Alfrey, 31, shot in the line of duty. The officer survives, but the incident leaves a permanent impression on Howard. 1976: Howard shoots suspect who tied up employees at Middletown's Bonanza steakhouse (formerly located on Breiel Boulevard near the current McDonald's restaurant). The suspect survived. 1990: Chosen from among 55 applicants, Howard becomes Monroe's police chief immediately after retiring from Middletown. He was charged with transforming the part-time force into a full-time, professionally trained department. 1995: A Monroe officer fatally shoots an intoxicated Lemon Township man who lunged at police with a knife. Howard defends the officer's actions. 2001: Monroe police investigate the most gruesome homicide of Howard's career: Ronald Spence Jr. is arrested for partially dismembering his wife, Shawny, with a hacksaw and stashing her body parts in a closet. 2002: The department logs its most hectic week, as officers help raid Bristol's Show Club & Revue, enlist an armored vehicle in a tense standoff and help in an interstate kiddie porn investigation. 2003: As the city struggles with financial problems, Howard announces his retirement. Despite later being hospitalized with heart problems, he returns to duty after three weeks to complete his tenure.

"These people are like family to me. Leaving is probably one of the hardest things I've ever done, but it's time," Howard, 68, said this week. He and his wife, Marilyn, want to travel in their motor home after celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary Tuesday.

Howard is among a very small group of Ohio chiefs with law-enforcement experience exceeding four decades, said Todd Wurschmidt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police. "You don't survive in this business that long unless you're doing an awful lot of things right, particularly as a police chief."

"He's known for speaking his mind. If you don't hear him, he'll speak a little louder; he had the seniority where he could do that," said Col. Richard K. Jones, Butler County sheriff's chief deputy. "Everybody knows: Ernie tells people what they need to hear, not necessarily what they want to hear. And they respect him for that."

Howard simply says: "I'm 'old-school.' I do things my way."

Capt. Tom Bishop will serve as acting chief until a new chief is hired. A search is being conducted.

When Howard became chief in mid-1990, the department had 26 part-time members; Monroe was a village of 4,125 people. Now the department has 17 full-time and eight part-time officers, and Monroe has evolved into a growing city whose population doubled to 8,500.

Howard's father, Henry, was an auxiliary fireman; police Capt. John Fitzgerald was his neighbor.

Howard joined the police department in 1961. "I had wanted to be a police officer for a long time - and let people talk me out of it," Howard said.

In those days, officers received little training before hitting the street. His first job was walking a downtown beat dotted with taverns and diners. Officers communicated with dispatchers from telephones inside "call boxes" alongside buildings.

"You were by yourself; you learned you had to be a take-charge-type person," Howard said. "Walking a beat was probably the best assignment, because you got to know people."

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com