November 24, 2005

By Diane Chiddister

A month after John Grote became the chief of the Yellow Springs Police Department, he attended the sentencing for Michael Rittenhouse, who pleaded guilty to charges that he murdered Tim Lopez in 2002.

At the Xenia Municipal Courthouse hearing, he recalled, he heard the mother, father and former girlfriend of Lopez describe the grief that colors their daily lives. Grote heard the assistant Greene County prosecutor describe the brutal murder of Lopez, a YSHS senior who was 18 when he was killed during an apparent dispute involving drug money. He heard Rittenhouse’s mother, Gilah Pomeranz, plead for her son’s life.

He heard the quiet sobbing that, as one person after another spoke, crescendoed throughout the packed court room.

“It was a tragic moment,” Grote said of the sentencing. “It moved me inside.”

In a recent interview, Grote linked Lopez’s murder to a new approach to policing that he has introduced at the Yellow Springs Police Department. Since last spring, officers have assertively pursued a policy of drug interdiction.

Grote, who was promoted to chief in February, said he wants to send a message that Yellow Springs is no longer soft on drugs.

Most importantly, he said, he wants to block local young people’s access to drugs and possibly prevent another drug-related tragedy like the one that destroyed the lives of two Yellow Springs youth.

“I want people to understand what we’re trying to do, and what it takes to do what we’re doing,” Grote said.

Concerns for the new policy
However, some Yellow Springers interviewed for this article questioned the policy’s overall effects, fearing that the Police Department’s more aggressive approach could potentially increase tension between the police and young people, between the police and minorities and possibly between police and all villagers.

“It’s not good for the community,” Don Wallis said. “My concern is it’s another reason for young people and black people to feel disrespected.”

Wallis said several people, including African-Americans and teenagers, have complained to him about the police department’s new approach.

Used to being treated by police in a friendly, low-key manner, some of the villagers interviewed said they are now finding that some officers, when they stop a car for a malfunctioning headlight or for rolling through a stop sign, ask if the driver has been drinking or doing drugs, if he or she is carrying drugs in the car and if the police can search the vehicle.

Chris Kinter, a local resident who for many years organized the Yellow Springs youth soccer league, compared a long ago stop by a veteran officer to a recent stop by a new officer. Once years ago, when Sergeant Dennis Nipper saw Kinter roll through a stop sign, Kinter recalled, the officer pulled alongside his car and said that if he saw that again, Kinter would have to make a donation to the soccer league. Nipper’s warning was effective, Kinter said, partly because it was low key, nonthreatening and based on familiarity.

In contrast, he said he was recently stopped by a new officer, Rich Miller, for allegedly driving over the center line, which Kinter said he did not do. He was treated, Kinter said, in an accusing and lecturing manner, and was also asked if he had been drinking, which he had not. Several weeks later, Kinter said, he is still furious.

“Is this going to be a police state?” Kinter said. “Because if it is, I’m out of here.”

Support from parents
Grote said he understands that villagers bristle at being asked uncomfortable questions. However, he said, those questions are necessary because they “open the door” to further actions that in some cases lead to drug-related arrests.

He said he believes the new approach is making a difference, partly based on the surprising number of arrests made since police began the new policy.

“It’s been an eye-opener,” Grote said. “We’re finding more [drugs] than we thought.”

According to Grote, since the police began focusing on drug interdiction, they have made twice the number of misdemeanor arrests compared to a year ago. The number of felony arrests is also “significantly higher,” Grote said.

Most importantly, he said, police believe the tactic is having an effect on the amount of drugs available to young people. For instance, he said, a recent traffic stop led to the arrest of a local man who had 15 pounds of marijuana at his house. The man was believed to supply a drug dealer who catered to young people, Grote said.

Several local parents, asked at random to respond to the new police approach, said that they support the policy because they believe it makes the village safer for young people.

“I absolutely support the Police Department,” said Anita Brown. “I think they have done a great job.”

The increased number of arrests this year seems to indicate that there are more drugs present in town than previously thought, said Brown. She said that while she would not support unnecessary searches, she trusts Yellow Springs officers to have good reasons to search cars.

Aside from cutting down on drugs available for young people, she said, the more aggressive approach might make the roads safer by reducing the number of drunk or high drivers.

“Our kids are out there riding bikes. We want them to be safe,” Brown said.

Moira Laughlin said she believes the police department’s new approach delivers to young people a consistent antidrug message, building on the DARE program that children hear in elementary school and following through with arrests of those using or trafficking in drugs.

“I’m supportive,” she said. “I am concerned about drugs.”

Two other mothers of young people, who asked to remain anonymous, said they also strongly support the police efforts.

A focus on drug use
In a typical drug interdiction arrest, a driver is stopped for a traffic violation or equipment malfunction. If a police officer sees or smells any sign of alcohol or marijuana, he asks the driver if he has been drinking or using drugs. The officer may also conduct a “plain view” search of the car and ask to search further if he sees any sign of drugs, such as a marijuana roach in the ash tray. He will also ask to search the car if he has any other reason to believe there may be drug use, such as the driver seeming unusually nervous.

By far most drug arrests from traffic stops, which often involve out-of-towners, have yielded only marijuana, according to police records. But some villagers interviewed for this article questioned the Police Department’s focus on arresting marijuana users, when they perceive cocaine and heroin as much more harmful.

According to Sergeant Tom Jones, 21-year police veteran, police find that the presence of marijuana sometimes means the presence of hard drugs as well. Jones also said that police training emphasizes that present-day marijuana is 30 percent more powerful than the drug used in the 1960s and ’70s.

“We would say it is not a harmless drug and any amount is too much,” he said.

Jones said he understands that villagers may hold different views on marijuana, and that some may use the drug in a recreational way. People who use a small amount in the privacy of their home will most likely not find the police at their door, he said.

However, Jones said, if someone has 10 pounds in the house and is trafficking in the drug, the police will hear about it and make an arrest.

Aggressive traffic stops
Yellow Springs resident Tom Noftle said he was incensed recently when he was stopped at night by Officer Miller for rolling through a stop sign. According to Noftle, Miller immediately blinded Noftle and his passenger, his 16-year-old daughter, with spotlights, which Miller said was done for safety, and addressed Noftle in what seemed an accusing manner.

“I was outraged,” Noftle said. “I’ve lived here for 35 years and never been treated this way.”

Another longtime village resident contacted Grote after her 16-year-old daughter was stopped by Miller for a traffic violation, and treated in what the woman felt was an intimidating manner. The woman, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her daughter’s privacy, said Miller frightened her daughter by sticking a large flashlight in the car, then asked her why she was nervous. He also searched the car.

“He was very aggressive. He went too far,” said the woman, who later viewed a videotape of the stop recorded from a camera inside Miller’s police cruiser.

The police should be perceived as protectors, the woman said. “It really scared her. It will affect her for the rest of her life,” she said of her daughter.

But Jones said that police officers need to be extra attentive to new drivers.

“You have to be especially careful with new drivers to make sure they’re safe,” he said. “It could be seen as intimidating. But you have to look at the bottom line. Is the officer trying to harass or trying to keep the roads safe? I believe Officer Miller is trying to keep people safe and is doing a wonderful job.”

Most of the villagers interviewed for this article who are critical of the department’s new policy complained about Miller, who has been an officer for six years and with the Yellow Springs Police Department for a little more than a year.

Jones described Miller as an “energetic” officer with “good observational skills” who is “committed to try and make a change in town.”

“He has done some significant things in a short period,” Jones said. “The bottom line is since Rich has been here there is less access to drugs in town. If he’s slowing down the drug traffic and making it more difficult for kids to use drugs, is that good or bad? We think it’s good.”

New officers always meet resistance because longtime villagers don’t know them, said Jones, who also praised the work of new officer Matt Hoying.

“People are upset because they’re strangers,” Jones said of the new officers. “Give them some time and they won’t be strangers anymore.”

Miller said drug use is “more of an unspoken problem” in Yellow Springs. “Everyone knows it’s present, but no one wants to talk about it,” he said.

He said he believes the vast majority of villagers are law-abiding or, if they use drugs, “keep it to themselves and function in society.”

However, he said, there is a “handful of people who abuse drugs, who can’t function and who need to finance their habit by means that are illegal. That’s the problem.”

Miller said he has made arrests involving cocaine, heroin, LSD and prescription medicines in the last year, and he believes Yellow Springs is safer for it.

Miller, who lives in Beavercreek, said that he polices a community as if it’s his hometown.

“If there are the same number of people who are sleeping better at night because they feel safer as there are people who complain, then we’re doing our job,” he said.

Miller also said he is doing his job the way he’s being asked to do it.

“I don’t do anything I’m not instructed to do,” he said. “The community, Police Department and Village Council want us to address this problem. Collectively, it’s time to act.”

Miller said he does not agree with those who say he has been too aggressive in his approach on the street and on the road.

“I’m not an intimidating kind of person. I’m not aggressive. That’s not the way I police,” he said.

However, Miller added, if a driver has done something that suggests he or she may be impaired, such as running a stop sign or crossing a center line, he will ask difficult questions because he’s trying to do his job.

Grote said he has received about 20 complaints via phone this year about the traffic stops, but only one person has taken him up on his suggestion that they come to the police station to view the tape of the traffic stop together. He said he also has received one written complaint.

Each traffic stop is videotaped by a camera in the police cruiser and audiotaped by a device worn on the officer’s belt.

Grote also said that since the police began going after drugs more aggressively, “hundreds of people” have stopped to tell him they support the new policy.

‘Not violating anyone’s rights’
“We’re not violating anyone’s rights,” said Grote, who pointed out that if the Greene County prosecutor’s office, which reviews all the tapes of traffic stops, found that police violated someone’s rights, the case would have to be dropped. “I will not allow anyone to operate on that level.”

The officers have had extensive training on Fourth Amendment rights, Grote said, and are well aware of how far they can go. Asking to search a car, even if the driver is stopped for a small traffic violation, is legal, although Grote acknowledged that many people, especially young people, don’t realize they have the right to say no.

Grote said he would like for local young people to be more aware of their rights, but he doesn’t think it’s the Police Department’s job to educate them. Rather, he said, he recently contacted the American Civil Liberties Union about the possibility of giving a talk, possibly through the Village Human Relations Commission, on Fourth Amendment rights.

Joan Chappelle, a member of the Human Relations Commission, said the commission hasn’t received any official complaints about the Police Department, although, she said, she has heard rumors of disgruntled citizens. She agreed that young people need to be better educated about their rights.

“As a Human Relations Commission member I would be interested in having young people know their civil rights in terms of search warrants,” she said. “I hope that civil rights would be part of what we teach.”

Tucker Malishenko, the coordinator of the Village Mediation Program, said the program also hasn’t received complaints about the department. He said if a complaint were received VMP would probably hold a “public discussion” to address the situation.

Minorities feel singled out
According to Wayne Baker, some members of the African-American community feel they are being singled out by the Police Department. Baker said about 20 people have spoken to him in support since he wrote a letter to the editor in the News in October expressing concern about the department’s new techniques.

“I believe people strongly believe they will be pulled over and asked if they have drugs if they’re black,” he said.

Baker said he wrote the letter after he was pulled over by Miller for speeding. According to Baker, Miller asked him if he had been smoking marijuana and if he had any drugs in the car. Baker said he was upset by the “business-as-usual attitude that ‘I am going to stop you and search your vehicle.’ ”

Baker also said he respects Grote and the department’s veteran officers, but that “there is concern about the new hires.”

He also said that if the Police Department is going to utilize a new policy, it needs to have a public forum or some way of communicating to the public its goals.

When asked about racial profiling, Grote said that police officers fill out “contact tickets” for each stop they make, identifying the gender and race of the person stopped. The department does not legally have to keep this record but has chosen to do so, Grote said, adding that he would be glad to go through the tickets with anyone who is interested.

He said he has no reason to believe that any officers are guilty of racial profiling.

Grote said he understands why people are concerned about the department’s new approach.

“I understand the upset,” he said. “I hope they understand what we’re trying to do.”

Grote said he believes the new approach is worthwhile because it seems to be working in apprehending drug users and traffickers.

However, he encouraged anyone with a complaint about a police procedure to contact him directly.

“We’ll pull the tape out, and I’ll get to the bottom of it,” he said.

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com