Whitehall mayor defends police chief, department amid union criticism over officer firing

Whitehall Mayor Michael Bivens says he stands behind the city's police chief, despite recent criticism from the local police union.

Bivens addressed the criticism at a news conference Friday morning, about a month after the firing of an officer at the center of a no-confidence vote in the Whitehall Police Department's police chief. Enrique Ortega was fired on July 5 . Whitehall Police Chief Mike Crispin said he began investigating Ortega after getting reports that he was going outside the bounds of protected union speech and telling members of the public he hated being a Whitehall officer.

FOP Capitol City Lodge No. 9 President Brian Steel said in a written statement shortly after the firing that Crispen "fabricated" the charges against Ortega, a union representative who had criticized the department.

Whitehall's response

At Friday's news conference, Bivens and Crispen denied allegations from the FOP that Whitehall police adhere to ticket or arrest quotas and said an FOP survey Ortega presented did not reflect the culture of the department.

"Quotas, as defined by most citizens, we absolutely don't have," Crispen said. "Most chiefs will tell you that it's absolutely ineffective to deal with traffic crashes and those types of things, so we don't have them."

Crispen said he will seek to mend relations with the FOP.

"This can't continue on," Crispen said. "This is very disruptive, not only disruptive to our department, it's disruptive to our ability to stay mission-focused when keeping this community safe."

Bivens declined to comment on Ortega's firing, saying the grievance process is ongoing. Crispen declined to provide officers to speak to the media about the department's culture, saying he didn't want to ask for extra work from them.

As part of its response, the city released a 2023 report by the National Research Center at Polco, a Wisconsin-based company that conducts surveys for local governments. That survey of all officers found nine out of 10 rated the work done by the police department as excellent or good. Nine out of ten also rated the department highly in regard to working relationships, and 72% rated overall staff morale positively.

Why was Ortega fired?

Ortega, a grievance representative for the union, attended a meeting with Bivens in mid-May to present results of a survey about the department's morale, working conditions and mental health. Bivens asked for a copy of that presentation, which was provided on May 28, according to court records.

Two days later, Crispen relieved Ortega of his duty and confiscated his gun and badge.

The police union said Ortega was working within his role as a union representative when he criticized the department, which would protect him from discipline. According to court records, Crispin said Ortega implied he would cause problems at the department if Bivens "did not act in a manner to Ortega's liking."

At a June 13 union meeting, members of the FOP took a unanimous vote of no confidence against Crispen. The union has filed grievances with the Whitehall police department and an unfair labor practice complaint with the State Employment Relations Board.

Crispen has been the Whitehall police chief since 2016. He previously worked in the Ohio Highway Patrol for more than 20 years. In a previous interview with The Dispatch, he said he wasn't worried about the vote of no confidence.

Crispin said in June that he's had similar conflicts with the union in the past and that though he respects the union as a whole, "a few individuals who are running rogue" are responsible for the current dispute.

Police union's response

Speaking to The Dispatch by phone after the news conference, Steel said the survey Whitehall distributed to reporters Friday was not an accurate representation of conditions at the department.

"(The officers) did not want to participate because those are tracked, and they felt they can't speak honestly, which is why we're here in the first place," Steel said. "So basically what they're doing is they're dismissing an anonymous 2024 survey, and saying, 'No, we have one we took in early 2023.'"

Steel also criticized the city for using a public relations firm to assist with the news conference, calling it a waste of taxpayer funds. He renewed his call for the city to have an outside investigation into the police department.

Steel said conflicts with Crispen have existed long before Steel became president of the FOP lodge. The union has struggled to staff union representatives at Whitehall, and previous presidents had the same concerns, Steel said.

"If I wasn't FOP president, I wouldn't care about Whitehall," Steel said. "These are Whitehall officers who are bringing their concerns forward."

bagallion@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Whitehall mayor defends police chief, department amid union criticism over officer firing