Rooster: Columbus Abolishes Vice Cops
Why presidents love visiting Lima, Mike DeWine's idea to fight drug trafficking, and more.
Another day in the beautiful state of Ohio, another penny. I’m thankful to see the sunrise after surviving another indoor soccer game last night. If anybody has any spare lungs laying around, I could use a fresh pair.
CPD DOES WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE DONE A LONG TIME AGO
Vice Units, if they’re to exist at all, should be the most heavily monitored and community-accountable divisions within the police department due to temptation of easy corruption.
Columbus went the other way. It failed to listen to the litany of complaints against its officers, and the result was an FBI investigation that’s still pending.
The CPD decided to get out in front of what will surely be a damning final report by abolishing the unit all together.
From Jim Woods of dispatch.com:
The Columbus police Vice Unit is being disbanded and its officers are being reassigned, Interim Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan announced on social media Tuesday night.
The vice section currently is part of the Narcotics Bureau. Quinlan said that vice-related crimes will be handled in a different fashion, with a more community-based approach. Quinlan, in a short video on a Police Division Twitter post, said more details will be forthcoming.
…
Three of the 10 officers assigned to the Vice Unit are under suspension. Andrew Mitchell, a 31-year veteran, recently was indicted on federal charges, accused of holding two women against their will until they had sex with him.
Two officers, Steven Rosser and Whitney Lancaster, also were suspended last year in connection with an ongoing FBI Public Corruption Task Force investigation. Neither Rosser nor Lancaster has been charged.
Mayor Andy Ginther lauding the move is the most Ginther thing ever. If only he were in position to do something about the rampant corruption before a criminal cop murdered an innocent woman…
That the CPD went ahead and abolished the unit speaks to public information being the tip of the iceberg in crimes committed by sociopaths awarded badges. Mitchell was still on the payroll despite an FBI investigation!
At least City Attorney Zach Klein did the right thing and dismissed 18 cases brought by the disgraced officer. It’s the city’s first step on the long winding road to redemption.
PRESIDENT DEALS COMES TO LIMA, INSULTS DEAD DUDE OVER LACK OF THANKS FOR FUNERAL
President Big Brain appeared at the tank factory in Lima yesterday. He once again harassed the ghost of John McCain. Trump, like when he goes after Amzon, hates McCain for all the wrong reasons, but the bipartisan worship of the war-horny Senator who unleashed Sarah Palin upon America is nauseating.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came to his dead friend’s defense without mentioning President Cholesterol by name because McConnell is also up for re-election in 2020, and he knows the president is much more popular with Kentucky voters than he ever will be.
Lost in that squabble, however, was an actually horrifying moment that shows what Democrats are up against in Ohio.
I remain baffled at any union member who sees the New York City “billionaire” as anything but a buffoon who belongs to the party that routinely appoints anti-labor interests to the National Labor Relations Board. (Point in case: The president left Lima for a $50,000(!)-per-person fundraiser in Canton.)
It defies logic that UAW members would cheer this man who told Mahoning Valley residents not to move a year before the Lordstown plant closing cost their comrades 1,200 jobs.
Outside of that idiocy, it’s always good to see Lima in the news. It’s an underrated city also dealing with the deindustrialization of the Midwest. Presidents of both parties have appeared there.
From Clare Roth of wosu.org:
"Republican presidents, presidential candidates come to Lima regularly. Democratic candidates less often come to the area," [Ohio State–Lima emeritus political science professor Bill] Angel says. "But it is because it's such a strong - and has been since the 1930s - a strong supporter of Republican politicians."
Lima offers another advantage: The tank plant Trump will tour, which has broad support among different demographics and political parties.
…
Angel adds that the intersection of different business interests, like agribusiness and industrial work, and varied demographics in Lima make it a good amalgam of the electorate.
"It is, kind of, in some ways, a microcosm of what Ohio is," Angel says. "It also has a large minority population, it has union voters: It's America."
One of the most traumatic childhood experiences occurred in Lima. We played basketball at Lima South in the 8th grade. I got into play, which meant we were either up by 50 or losing by 50. This game happened to be over before the tipoff when we saw the other team dunking in warmups.
Nevertheless, I got my chance at glory when I caught a ball in the corner and had a clean look at the hoop.
My friends would later blame my elongated, broken jump shot. I swear the Lima guy pulled a ladder out of his pocket. Either way, that dude stuffed my shot to China. Even my teammates laughed at how hard I got crushed. My NBA dreams withered and died on the spot.
ASHLAND POLICE REFUSING TO RELEASE INFO OF MAN THEY SHOT (OR WHO SHOT HIM)
Not to keep harping on cops, but the entire culture around police shootings need to be changed. The latest example comes from the metropolis of Ashland.
From times-gazette.com:
One of those incidents occurred late Saturday evening when Ashland police were called to a Sandusky Street residence in response to a reportedly intoxicated man threatening to kill his mother.
After stabbing his mother, police said, the knife-wielding man “advanced” toward one of the police officers, who shot him in the chest. The man and woman were both transported to the local hospital, according to a Sunday press release from Ashland Police Chief David Marcelli. The press release did not include any identities or updates on the conditions of the man shot or the woman wounded.
Based on the limited information from the 911-call tapes that were released Monday after the Times-Gazette made a public records request, there appears to be no reason to believe that the police officer did anything wrong given the volatile situation.
Yet the police department’s tight lid on information surrounding the incident — including the identities of the officers involved and those wounded — creates an environment that allows unfair speculation, innuendos and rumors.
It’s not unfair to speculate at malignant intentions behind the secrecy. That police won’t even release the name of the victims or the officer that shot should raise alarm bells. There is no excuse for that information not to be made public if it was a clean shooting.
MAN WHO ONCE HELD FAKE FENTANYL PRESS CONFERENCE HAS IDEAS ON DRUG TRAFFICKING
Governor Mike DeWine, then the attorney general, held an entire press conference about busting two dudes with enough fentanyl “to kill 1 million people” back in June.
It’s the news cops love to promote. However, it turned out the men were actually trafficking in cocaine. How that didn’t kill his gubernatorial bid, I’ll never know.
The 72-year-old grandpa has an idea on how to attack drug trafficking in the state.
From Jeremy Pelzer of cleveland.com:
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget plan includes $3.25 million to set up a state narcotics intelligence center to help disrupt illegal drug trafficking and the opioid epidemic in Ohio.
The new center, which would consist of units in Cleveland and Columbus, would be an unprecedented statewide effort to collect data from the state’s 40-plus police drug task forces and analyze it to find larger trends, patterns and relationships about the drug dealers and criminal organizations who operate here, according to administration officials, who released details about the proposed center on Tuesday evening.
…
Law-enforcement officials have told the governor about troubles they’ve had with criminal drug cases because they don’t have access to other departments’ investigative data in real time, according to Lindsey Bohrer, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, which would operate the intelligence center.
A streamlined database of state drug investigations would offer plenty of opportunities for corruption. If this idea comes to fruition, there should be heavy monitoring of who accesses the database and when.
ANTI-ABORTION NUTS ATTEMPT TO OUTNUT EACH OTHER
Congratulations to Sen. Kristina Roegner is now No. 1 on my Shittiest State Senators. I’ve seen a lot of repugnant opinions from Republicans looking to signal how little they value women having bodily autonomy, but Roegner’s latest brain reaction may be the worst from an elected official.
From Maggie Prosser of dispatch.com:
‒Sen. Kristina Roegner, the bill’s primary sponsor, said that in cases of rape or incest — which are not exemptions from the ban — abortion could be detrimental to victims.
“The abortion could actually be the best friend of a human trafficker or a rapist,” the Hudson Republican said. “The abortion sort of wipes away the bad act. There is going to be less evidence that it happened. If the woman becomes pregnant... and then you can ask if it’s because of rape or incest. ... So, in many ways, the baby can actually protect the mother.”
Not to be outdone, Ohio Right to Life’s Rebecca Kiessling showed she too has the pulse of what sex traffickers and rapists want:
Other proponents made similar arguments, including Jessica Warner, director of legislative affairs for Ohio Right to Life, and Rebecca Kiessling, who was conceived by rape.
“Rapists, child molesters and sex traffickers love abortion, which destroys the evidence and enables them to continue perpetuating,” Kiessling said.
This is their message to Ohio women: We value the rapist father more than you. And you should be forced to raise your rapist’s baby, because that’s the only way to collect DNA in 2019.
It somehow got worse from there.
Additionally, proponents compared abortion to smashing an egg, mass genocide and locking someone in a closet. One anti-abortion advocate asked legislators to consider the consequences if LeBron James had been aborted.
The common theme is none of these people have any medical credentials and are simply using their theology against poor women without the means to travel for an abortion to another state that isn’t run by cavemen and their handmaidens.
These people aren’t pro-life. They’re pro birth, even if it means sentencing a woman to raise her rapist’s baby while he (hopefully) rots in jail. Their compassion for that person ends the second that birth happens. After that, well, hope that lil tyke has some bootstraps to pull.
THOSE WMDs. Famous YouTube vegan caught eating meat in Mexico… Democracy for Republicans… The healthiest to unhealthiest counties in Ohio… Why excessive communication ruins your creativity… Democrats embrace court packing… The White Extinction Theory is completely bonkers… 2020 Dems’ first Iowa cattle call is all about rural America… IBM built a surveillance system for Philippine despot.