Police chief hopes federal probe will bring closure; union chief says it may increase crime
Brad Dicken | The Chronicle-Telegram
LORAIN — Lorain Police Chief Cel Rivera said Saturday that while he wasn’t thrilled to learn his department is the target of a federal investigation into excessive force allegations, it may end up being a good thing considering the bad publicity Lorain police have endured in recent years.
“To be honest with you, hopefully it’ll bring some closure to all this,” Rivera said, although he acknowledged morale in the department will take a hit.
The head of the Lorain police union, Detective Buddy Sivert, said not only will morale suffer, but the investigation will make it more difficult for the city’s officers to do their job.
“It’s hard enough to do our job as it is, without worrying about being investigated,” Sivert said.
Tough city, tough situation
The U.S. Department of Justice notified Lorain police of a civil investigation into the department on Thursday. The probe — which could take a year — isn’t aimed at any individual incident or officer, but rather is a wide-ranging review of how police work is done in Lorain, according to city officials.
Rivera said he informed his officers of the investigation Friday and “told them to keep their heads up and do their job.”
But Sivert predicted that officers will find their hands tied in certain situations because they’ll be more reluctant to use force, even when it’s necessary.
“You’ll see an increase in crime because of this because (the criminals) are going to know our guys are going to be reluctant to use force because they’re worried about the investigation,” he said.
In addition to a review of the department’s practices and policies, federal investigators plan to examine police incident reports and complaints made against officers.
They also will ride with some police officers and meet with members of the community, city officials said after the investigation was announced Friday.
Sivert said the city’s officers are judicious in their use of force.
“They do what they have to do in a tough city, in a tough situation,” he said.
The only excessive use of force that Rivera said he could immediately recall in recent years was a 2006 incident in which then-Officer Daniel Bozsoki Tasered a handcuffed suspect in the back of a police cruiser and then tried to cover it up.
Although Bozsoki was fired, an arbitrator returned him to active duty. Bozsoki resigned three months after he returned to work when he failed to turn in a police report, which could have violated his probationary status and led to him being fired again.
“That’s not something that’s real common here, despite the allegations,” Rivera said.
Although there may be few excessive force complaints, the Lorain Police Department has had to discipline several officers over the past two years and the federal investigation comes on the heels of the trials of two Lorain police officers accused of pursuing women they met while on the job.
Stanley Marrero was fired in September after he was convicted of intimidation, public indecency and dereliction of duty. He was recently released from the county jail, where he spent two months, and is still awaiting trial on unrelated rape charges.
Just this week saw the trial of Officer Jesus Sanchez, who remains suspended, on menacing by stalking allegations. A county judge plans to announce his verdict in December.
Sivert said that if the investigation focused on the cases of Marrero, Sanchez and other problem officers who have made headlines, he wouldn’t have a problem, but he does question whether the excessive force investigation is even worth looking at.
Blame
Sivert places the blame for the investigation on at-large City Council members Anne Molnar and Mitch Fallis, who requested a federal investigation of the police department in June. Among the concerns they forwarded to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division were police brutality allegations.
Sivert singled out Molnar for particular criticism, saying the investigation seems to be an outgrowth of her dislike for Rivera.
“Our guys don’t need to go through this just because someone has a personal problem with the chief,” he said.
Molnar rejected that accusation, saying she and Fallis merely passed along information they were given by Lorain citizens and police officers about what was going on in the department.
“It’s not a personal vendetta,” Molnar said. “It is the information that has been fed to us.”
Among those who were feeding Molnar and Fallis information is Joseph Montelon, a former Lorain cop and convicted sex offender whose Wickliffe home was raided by Lorain police and the FBI in August.
Montelon — who hasn’t been charged — is suspected of writing a string of anonymous anti-police letters that public officials and journalists in the county have received for years. Montelon has refused to say whether he wrote the letters, but he and Molnar believe the raid on his home was an effort to find the source of internal police documents he has leaked to Molnar and others.
Rivera said he doesn’t know what prompted the investigation and refused to comment on Molnar.
“To me, it doesn’t matter where it originated from,” he said. “The Department of Justice is just like us — if we get a complaint, we investigate it.”
Molnar said the Justice Department investigation is a good thing.
“Thank god we do have some good officers in the city of Lorain, but the bad ones need to be weeded,” she said.
Sivert said police officers, like everyone else, make mistakes, and while cops are held to a higher standard, that doesn’t mean his fellow Lorain officers have done anything wrong.
“It’s really going to make guys leery of going out and doing the job,” he said.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Brad Dicken | The Chronicle-Telegram November 23rd, 2008 in BREAKING, Top Stories. Popularity: 3% |
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Comments
Comment from
silkskin1960
November 23, 2008, 8:08 am
Actually maybe some of them will realize NOW that they have to answer to SOMEBODY too. It seems that many of the new officers get that badge and it automatically turns them into someone else. Well, they need to understand that the badge did not turn them into ROBIN HOOD, or any other fictional character that they longed to be when they grew up and SOME of them take their authority to new levels of ignorant. MAYBE, this investigation will put a slow leak in some of the bubbleheads on the force.
Comment from
poet
November 23, 2008, 9:11 am
Oh my God,
This investigation will hurt the morale…you have got to be kidding…I hear from officers that the morale has been so low, doubtful you could get any lower..Dont blame that on the DOJ! Look at yourselves and you own band leader!
and how does the riding along hamper any police business. Is there not procedures that officers are to follow. That is like me saying, well, if my boss is in my office, I can no longer do my job or do it well. I can not believe what I have read.
I thank God that the DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE is looking into matters. This is not a police witch hunt. Only those who are fearful have something to fear, IN MY OPINION!
CHIEF RIVERA, YOU SAY YOU DID NOT PROMPT THAT RAID ON JOE MONTELONE…THEN WHY DID IT HAPPEN, WHY DO YOU STILL HAVE HIS THINGS..AND WHAT ARE YOU AFARID OF?
I AM OUTRAGED AT THE COMMENTS MADE FROM OUR DEPARTMENT. I AM APALLED THAT THE LETTER WRITTEN TO ANNE MOLNAR FROM JIM MCCANN WAS NEVER ADDRESSED. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSEVES. AFTER 10 YEARS OR SO CHIEF, YOU TRY TO HELP GET A WOMAN OUT OF PRISION…WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL ALONG…COULD THAT BOX HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THAT…I AM OUTRAGED..AND WASHINGTON WILL HEAR MY CALL.
Comment from
poet
November 23, 2008, 9:55 am
9-5-08
Chronicle Telegram
wrote as follows:
“Rivera said he asked the FBI to investigate allegations in the lettlers- which have been mailed to police, local officals and reproters for years- that accused him and his officals of criminal activity and then covering up those crimes”..further reads…”he also insisted that the FBI
is only assisting Lorain police with their investigation”
but he does not know what prompted the investigation????
and he uses the word…”to be honest with you”
GIVE JOE HIS THINGS BACK!
LEAVE ANNE MOLNAR ALONE…SHE IS ONLY DOING HER JOB! I DONT THINK SHE WOULD HAVE A RPOBLEM WITH THE DOJ LOOKING OVER HER SHOULDER…PERSOANL VENDETTA…HA…DID NOT INOW SHE WAS SO POWERFUL.
Their is a song by the group “men at work” one of the lines from that song..is better run. better take cover”
shall i heed those lyrics, or should you.
Comment from
Flee
November 23, 2008, 10:14 am
Detective Buddy Sivert; If no excessive force was used or the officers have done nothing wrong what do they have to worry about? An investigation should have nothing to do with the way your officers handle themselves while inforceing our laws. There is no reason for crime to go up because of an investigation. If it does, then they are not doing what they are being paid to do. Professionals are supposed to know their jobs.
The cops are held to a higher standard because they have put themselves there. The cops don’t put little badges on their license plates for citizens to see. The little badges are there for other cops to see. They don’t want to give one of their own a ticket.
Remember Buddy Sivert, there is not one police officer that was made to do the job of enforceing our laws. They pursued and took the job willingly.
Comment from
Mr. Rush
November 23, 2008, 10:53 am
I hope they take a good long hard look at the sheriff’s dept too. There’s more corruption and abuse there than in all other lorain county law offices combined…
Comment from
justsaying
November 23, 2008, 1:14 pm
Don’t forget to let the investigaters know that SEX while on duty is OKAY….
Comment from
mmmmm…..
November 23, 2008, 3:18 pm
Yea,the morale within the Dept. is going to be low.They have been called out for their wrongdoings.I guess it would be hard for these officers to do their job properly with the DOJ breathing down their necks.Afterall,now they will have to try and remember how it is to do the job properly because they have been doing it improperly for years.You know they say,It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks!
Comment from
JayM
November 23, 2008, 9:07 pm
Well maybe most of them will just be in a terrible mood all the time now because theyre being blamed and criticized for the actions of a select few. I just love it when a few bad or improper officers make the whole department lose credibility. And everyone who posts on here just loves to tear down police officers. Theyre the easiest targets. If I worked for LPD I’d resign. Its not worth protecting a city who hates you for sacrificing everything for them.
Comment from
justsaying
November 24, 2008, 8:04 am
I know that being a police officer isn’t easy, and it is getting harder and harder each day to try and get home to your family alive. I believe that certain situations require certain ways of dealing with law breakers, but I also do not believe in over use of certain ways to control every issue, nor do I believe that overlooking people in certain positions, while they break the law is healthy for any situation. You say being investigated will cause more crime, I can’t see how that will cause more crime, but I can see people becoming more irate, when you publicly allow people of position to break the law and walk away with a slap on the hand, or nothing.
Comment from
mmmmm…..
November 24, 2008, 8:07 am
Not everone that comments these stories are tearing down the Officers of LPD.They are just stating their beliefs.What happened to freedom of speech?It is kind of difficult to sit back and not speak your mind when it comes to the LPD when majority of the stories written are negative.How are we suppose to feel?These officers are suppose to be protecting the city of Lorain.I grew up a Police brat and for the last 30 some years of my life,all I have heard is negativity and my Dad has been retired for well over a decade.I know quite a few of these officers and I know what they are capable of.Most of the ones that got a bad rap deserve it.SORRY!I have a sincere respect for the officers that do their job properly.It is very sad that the whole Dept. loses credibility because of a select few.So please don’t label some of us as haters!
Comment from
justsaying
November 24, 2008, 8:07 am
@ poet.. If it were the tv show Cops, wanting to ride along and place the Lorain Police on national tv, I have a feeling there would be NO PROBLEM in it.. just headlines..
Comment from
DonTCare
November 24, 2008, 9:47 am
Easy if the police tell you to stop… you have 2 seconds… then they open fire on ya…
you start coming at them and they tell you to stop… you don’t they open fire on ya.
They are frigging adults.. and should know what STOP means, or drop to the ground… if not…. shoot em.
Comment from
CaligulasNemesis
November 24, 2008, 3:41 pm
Thanks to the Lorain City council members (and ordinary citizens) who contacted the Department of Justice on behalf of the whole Lorain community. Without their tireless efforts, no one would ever learn the truth about all these accusations that have been made. We owe a debt of gratitude to Anne Molnar, Mitch Fallis, and all the others (who shall remain nameless).
Comment from
poet
November 24, 2008, 6:11 pm
just saying….
the comment made by Seivert, was a pathetic attempt to sound smart. The comment from the Chief is further proof that he can not keep his stories straight.
This all tells me mountains.
I have and always had the utmost respect for any police officer where ever he wears a badge. I have not lost my faith or respect for the men in blue…but I get a very nausiated stomach when I believe someone is lying.
I am still most confident that the whole story will come out in its due time. There is nothing more pure than the truth. I am quite confident that our thoughts will further as more inforamtion becomes lucid.
Comment from
LadyBug
November 24, 2008, 6:20 pm
It is about time the DOJ is coming in. Hopefully, the truth will come out . Many people were involved in the DOJ complaint. It consisted of cops, retired cops, active cops, former cops, citizens, and council. This was not just one person, but many. Congratulations to all those involved, and let’s hope the criminal division follows through.
Comment from
CaligulasNemesis
November 24, 2008, 8:49 pm
Yes, and let’s hope the Criminal Division figures out what happened to that one lady’s half-a-million dollars ($500,000). Those swindlers never showed her any mercy, and someone should track them down.
Comment from
LadyBug
November 25, 2008, 9:23 am
Your so right. Caligula’s Nemesis. That whole situation was a crying shame. How could someone steal from a 95 yr old woman, and get away with it. I hope too that the criminal division follows through on the rest of the allegations. The civil thing, is a small part of the whole picture.
Comment from
poet
November 25, 2008, 9:04 pm
I see the journal has not taken any coments on the news stories that appeared in their paper today 11-25-08.
I hope the chorinicle will let our words be heard. I have not sat down to read the Editorial page today in the Chronicle, but I will, as I hear it is a very insightful read.
So I thank you ahead of time.
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