Ex-Ohio patrol chiefs criticize administration
COLUMBUS (AP) — Seven retired Ohio State Highway Patrol superintendents have joined forces to express their concerns over what one calls the “long and corrupting tentacles of political interference” at the Ohio agency.
The group has started a Web site, troopertotrooper.com, arguing that the patrol is in danger of losing its reputation for operating independently and without political influence.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Paul McClellan, who was superintendent from 2003 to 2007, told The Columbus Dispatch for a Sunday report. “It’s one of the pillars the patrol follows the rule of the law and gets the job done without political influence.”
Among their complaints are what they call secrecy regarding the selection of a new superintendent, failure to investigate alleged fraud by a state contractor and halting a planned drug sting of a worker at the residence of Gov. Ted Strickland.
They say they never experienced such interference under any governor.
“These concerns confirmed our suspicions that the long and corrupting tentacles of political interference at the operational levels and inner workings of the patrol had finally taken root,” said Thomas Rice, who served as superintendent from 1989 to 1994.
Strickland, a Democrat, appointed Cathy Collins-Taylor as director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, a week after previous director Henry Guzman stepped down. Collins-Taylor, in December, announced the appointment of Capt. David Dicken as superintendent to replaced Col. Richard Collins, who is not related to Collins-Taylor.
Collins and Guzman had a strained relationship.
“Part of the problems and issues has been conflicts between the patrol and other divisions, or management of the department,” the Public Safety department said in a statement. “Those conflicts no longer exist. We’ve moved past the issues that created them and because of that, do not believe it’s appropriate to continue to re-hash them publicly.”
Strickland says he believes the new team will lead the patrol past previous “turf wars” between Guzman and Collins.
“I can assure you there has been no political interference in these matters from this office,” he said.
Collins said he clashed regularly with Guzman, appointed by Strickland in 2007, over promotions, discipline, patrol leaders’ access to lawmakers and other matters.
He said Public Safety tightened the reins on troopers speaking to members of the media and that he disagreed with a department that required the Patrol to get authorization from Guzman or Strickland’s legal staff before consulting with prosecutors or investigating Public Safety workers.
“It’s not appropriate. We are the primary law-enforcement agency for investigating state government, and we need to do our job,” he said.
Robert Chiaramonte, who was superintendent from 1965 to 1975, said he feels the Patrol is “pretty much politicized now.”
“You have an organization that is dedicated to, and sworn to do, a job,” he said. “They should be allowed to do it.”
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.