By Jane Prendergast
Enquirer staff writer

Cincinnati police officers are starting to butt heads with the former veteran Baltimore cop and Washington consultant hired to be the top independent watchdog over the police department.

Sgt. Harry Roberts, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, has sent a memo to all 1,050 officers telling them to document any discourtesy or poor treatment by investigators of the Citizen Complaint Authority.

Roberts said officers are complaining about investigators having predetermined opinions about cases. The memo from Roberts included a form for officers to detail any complaints.

The case that prompted Roberts' letter was the April fatal shooting in Columbia Township of a drug suspect by Officer John Mercado. Roberts said a complaint authority investigator disputed Mercado's statement that he'd done nothing wrong. According to Roberts, the investigator said in effect that something must have gone wrong because somebody was killed.

"We have a big problem with that,'' Roberts said.

Executive Director Wendell France said no one with the police union has tried to speak with him about any concerns. At the helm four months, he came described as a fair but tough police veteran who wouldn't be afraid to ruffle feathers.

"I don't know what the basis of it is,'' France said Tuesday of the FOP's complaints. "So I don't really care to respond to it.''

France has been publicly critical of a racist culture he says permeates police departments. He was hired in Marchover more than 100 applicants. He was chosen with input from the FOP, and took over after the agency operated under an interim director for six months. Director Nathaneal Ford left the job in the summer of 2003 after only about four months.

Roberts said he plans to bring up the union's concerns this month with Saul Green, who is monitoring the city's compliance with the U.S. Department of Justice and collaborative agreements.

He also said France has changed the outcome of at least one case after it had already been decided. But France said he could never do that, that all final decisions go to City Manager Valerie Lemmie.

The complaint authority was created as part of a yearlong Justice Department review of the Police Department in response to activists' allegations that the former investigative body, the Office of Municipal Investigation, was not independent enough.

"We're just trying to hold everyone accountable,'' Roberts said, not just police officers.

France said he would be "more than happy'' to talk with Roberts and others about any concerns. "But maybe this is just the way things are done in Cincinnati.''

E-mail jprendergast@enquirer.com