Campbell PD officer fired for poor choices

CAMPBELL

Officer Russell Beatty III was fired for the “very poor choices” he made while serving as the district’s school-resource officer, the Campbell Police Department announced Friday.

Said choices were revealed in the results of a months-long investigation through the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Police Chief Drew Rauzan said in a statement. Rauzan noted that while the investigation produced no findings of criminal conduct, it did show that, “regardless of what a dutiful police officer Beatty was, he can no longer work with the Campbell Police Department.”

The BCI investigation began in December following allegations of possible misconduct involving a minor student, and is ongoing. An Aug. 21 letter from Campbell Mayor William J. VanSuch terminated Beatty’s employment due to his “acts of misfeasance, malfeasance, misconduct and conduct unbecoming a police officer.”

“This is a very unfortunate set of circumstances that the Campbell Police Department has put behind us,” Rauzan said in the statement.

Beatty, who was a part-time police officer in Campbell, began as Campbell City Schools’ school-resource officer at the start of the 2013-14 academic year. He had been a Campbell officer since July 2013.

He was placed on paid administrative leave Dec. 9 while the school district investigated the allegations. Beatty then served three days’ suspension and took two personal days the following week, after the school district found that he’d violated a school board policy stating that “a professional staff member shall not associate or fraternize with students at any time in a manner that may give the appearance of inpropriety.”

He submitted his resignation as school-resource officer Dec. 16, noting in it that “evidence exists of me possibly violating a school policy due to my having a relationship with a student outside of school hours.”

The school district’s investigation also “did not reveal any evidence of sexual contact or sexual conduct” between the minor student and Beatty.