Circleville mayor suspends city’s deputy police chief

Circleville’s mayor on Monday suspended the police department’s deputy chief, who had assumed control of the 25-member department earlier this month after the police chief was suspended.

Both Chief Shawn Baer and Deputy Chief Doug Davis now face investigations by the city — Baer on suspicion of harassment, intimidation and financial misconduct and Davis for alleged employee misconduct, according to a prepared statement from Mayor Michelle Blanton.

Both men are suspended with pay. It was not immediately clear from the mayor’s release who within the police department was in charge, and Blanton has not returned repeated interview requests from The Dispatch.

In addition, the city’s recently fired safety director told The Dispatch that outside agencies are now investigating Circleville, including the Ohio Auditor’s office and the Ohio Attorney General’s Ohio Police Officer Training Academy.

Circleville police K-9 mauling and allegations of assault and retaliation

Baer’s issues surfaced last year following the attack by a Circleville police dog of an unarmed Black trucker on July 4. The incident stemmed from a police pursuit of Jadarrius Rose by the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Rose eventually stopped, got out of his cab and was kneeling in the grass median of a highway with his hands up when the K-9 was turned loose and attacked Rose.

Baer suspended K-9 officer Ryan Speakman because he “did not meet the standards and expectations we hold for our police officers” by speaking to others about the incident and complaining — not because of Speakman’s command to his dog Serge to attack Rose.

Davis’ alleged misconduct stems from a March 14 meeting with Mayor Blanton. The meeting occurred the same day that Blanton fired Steve Wilkinson, the city’s safety director, after just one week in the post.

Wilkinson told The Dispatch that officers fear retaliation from both Baer and Davis. He called Blanton a coward “who had caved to the illegal demands of the police department” by not allowing him to continue to investigate problems with police training including firearms training.

Wilkinson said that he saw Blanton leave a March 14 meeting and run into the street crying. Both police and a paramedic were dispatched to that incident, Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson, who was not permitted in the March 14 meeting, said multiple council members told him that Blanton’s reaction followed an assault by Davis during the meeting. They declined to give details of the assault, he said.

Wilkinson, a veteran Columbus cop, just wanted to help

Wilkinson, a retired, 30-year veteran of the Columbus Division of Police, said he started working as a reserve Circleville police officer last year, in part because he lives close by and enjoyed the comeraderie.

But Wilkinson said he found out that supervisors were permitting officers to pass firearms training when they were unable to perform to standards. That’s when he said city leaders, including Blanton, asked him to take the full-time safety director position.

According to Wilkinson, former Columbus police Chief Tom Quinlan, who now oversees the Ohio Police Officer Training Academy for the Ohio Attorney General’s office, has launched an investigation into the firearms training issues in the Circleville Police Department. He said he’s also been told the Ohio Auditor is looking into alleged financial irregularities in Circleville, including Baer’s personal time keeping and fiscal oversight of police operations. Neither state agency would confirm whether investigations are in progress as a matter of policy.

Wilkinson said all he wanted was the ability to do his job as safety director and help improve Circleville’s police force, which he praised as mostly young and committed officers with poor leaders.

In a March 7 email to Blanton, Wilkinson affirmed “wanting to help, guide and mentor the officers of the Circleville Police Department. My ideology in the vision to help transform the police officers is also firm and unchanged.”

In the weeks leading up to his hiring as safety director, Wilkinson said that

Baer launched multiple investigations against him and filed a formal complaint against him.

Wilkinson said the complaint involved his complimentary comments praising Davis’ weight loss and tan following his vacation, and it has since been dismissed by the city’s human resources director.

In a March 4 email about another investigation, Baer told Wilkinson: “You are correct in your understanding. You have been given a written order and have acknowledged that you are only to discuss this with me.”

In a March 1 email, Baer advised Wilkinson of a separate investigation, stating: “This is an order and if violated disciplinary action will be taken.”

Wilkinson said he was never told what he was being investigated for, with Baer violating protocol commonly used in Columbus and other police agencies.

Wilkinson said he told the mayor and law director to be prepared for “complications” from some police officers once leaders are singled out. He said officers were hostile toward him, with some refusing to work.

“I told (city leaders), ‘If you’re not prepared to support me, I will fail from the start,’ “Wilkinson said. ‘They said that they would. But obviously that didn’t happen.’ “

Wilkinson said he’s urged Blanton and council members to share the problems publicly.

“I told them it’s got to come out. The people of Circleville will want to know why,” he said.

dnarciso@dispatch.com