Urban League opposes Lt Marhulik’s promotion

Don’t promote officer to captain’s position, Urban League urges

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

WARREN — Thomas S. Conley, president of the Greater Warren-Youngstown Urban League, says racial remarks made by a top-ranking Warren police officer in August make him unfit to be one rank below police chief.

Conley was among the local black leaders who in 2003 called for police Chief John Mandopoulos to be fired, and who helped convince the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the department over allegations of racial harassment.

The Justice Department eventually conducted an investigation and issued 30 pages of recommendations for ways the department should change, especially regarding the process of filing complaints against officers.

Conley said the best option for the Warren Police Department is to leave the vacant captain’s position unfilled.

“It makes great sense in light of the fact that Warren’s census of law, and significantly fewer officers require fewer leadership positions,” he said.

Lt. Joseph Marhulik’s score on a civil service test in 2008 makes him first choice to be promoted. The position came open when Tim Bowers was promoted from captain to chief to replace Mandopoulos.

In August, Marhulik called two black men riding bicycles in the southeast part of the city a derogatory name for a black person, he admitted. Fellow police officers were also called that night to remove Marhulik from a low-income housing project where a security guard reported that Marhulik appeared to be intoxicated while off duty and wearing his service revolver.

“Despite Lt. Marhulik’s admission of guilt, the fact is that a trusted law enforcement officer spoke with explicit and shocking hatred of blacks while intoxicated,” Conley said in a press release sent to The Vindicator on Friday.

Based upon Marhulik’s “outwardly discriminatory remarks, Lt. Marhulik should not be promoted to captain of the Warren Police Department,” Conley said. “If he does receive the promotion he’s in line for, it will scream out that its ‘business as usual in Warren, Ohio!’”

Mayor Michael O’Brien said the administration doesn’t have the power to abolish a captain’s position. Such a move would have to be negotiated with the Fraternal Order of Police.

O’Brien and Safety-Service Director Doug Franklin plan to discuss the position at a meeting soon, the mayor said. Until then the promotion is on hold.

“There’s been no promotion at this point, and that’s all there is to say,” O’Brien said.

If promoted to captain, Marhulik would be one of three captains in the department, with captains having the first chance to test for the chief’s job the next time the position becomes vacant.

Conley said the Justice Department continues to monitor the Warren Police Department with regard to its treatment of minorities, adding that racial problems within the department were brought to light in the mid-1990s when some of Warren’s white police officers denigrated black officers with derogatory remarks and name calling. Officers were also guilty of racial profiling and illegal strip searches, Conley said.

Conley said he urges city officials to adopt a charter form of government, which allows the mayor to select managers such as police chief “based upon bona fide personnel issues,” rather than through the civil service testing procedure.

“We all need to be vigilant,” Conley said. “As a community and as a nation, we’ve just got to move beyond hatred and discrimination within our own borders.”

runyan@vindy.com