Evendale police hires independent team to review police actions during neo-Nazi presence

EVENDALE, Ohio — The Evendale Police Department announced Friday it has hired an independent team "to both review police actions and provide insights and recommendations on best practice law enforcement in today's ever-changing political and social landscape."

The department has hired 21CP Solutions, a consulting firm led by former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey.

According to the announcement, work with the independent firm is anticipated to start next week.

"We owe it to our community and all those affected by February 7 to learn from that day and strengthen trust," Evendale Mayor Richard Finan said in a press release.

During a press conference Monday, Finan said the community raised concerns, and they plan to take them seriously.

"We want to improve, we want to try and make it better, see if we did things wrong that day," said Finan.

We asked him how much public pressure played a role for why the village decided to hire an outside consultant.

"We could feel some public pressure, yes but we felt it was essential for us to be transparent about the situation, find out exactly what happened, and move forward on that level," said Finan.

Learn more about the independent investigation here:

Evendale Police said the team it has hired is made up of a diverse group of seasoned professionals who work to help communities develop and implement equitable and integrity-driven public safety.

"Our work doesn't end with this review or the work of the county prosecutor," said Steven Berke, Evendale's vice mayor. "We will continue to provide space to address the concerns people in our area have, reaffirm out commitment to justice and stand united for dignity, respect and condemnation of hate in all forms."

Sean Smoot, managing partner with 21CP Solutions said the organization will help assist the Village of Evendale in evaluating what happened on February 7 and providing a review.

"Our review will include the Evendale Police Department's planning and response, our work will be independent, transparent and grounded in community engagement," said James Whalen, 21CP Solutions. "Our chiefs have worked to turn troubled police agencies around."

Whalen said he plans to have the final report ready after 90 days.

We asked Village of Evendale Police Chief Tim Holloway if he would describe his department as "troubled."

"Absolutely not, we have a very professional police department and our officers conduct themselves as professionals day in and day out," said Holloway.

The announcement from the Village of Evendale says the village and police department are committed to full transparency in the review process. The village said it plans to provide regular updates and promises to release the findings of the report in full once the review is complete.

The village said it hopes to announce more information about the review next week; More information will also be posted online, the village said.

Ohio Representative Cecil Thomas told WCPO he's happy to hear Evendale is participating in an independent investigation, but he still doesn't think that's enough — so he plans to introduce legislation to change things.

"The most important aspect of law enforcement is good community, police relations and when that level of trust starts to erode, if you don't address that, it can cause problems not just for the agency that's involved but for policing all around the entire area," said Thomas. "So, I'm introducing legislation to say, OK, if you wanna come into a community, we can't do anything about that but you can't come in armed and masked. So if you come in like that, immediately law enforcement's got the opportunity to say 'sorry, shutting you down, get out of here.'"

The decision to hire 21CP Solutions for an independent review is the result of recent resident mistrust in law enforcement in the Evendale and Lincoln Heights areas in the weeks following the Feb. 7 neo-Nazi presence on a highway overpass near both communities.

Evendale Police has released hours of body camera footage showing multiple interactions between law enforcement and the neo-Nazi group who appeared that day.

Watch our breakdown of the body camera footage here:

Evendale Police have been updating a Google Drive folder with additional video following their initial release of the first body camera videos.

Some of that footage showed an Evendale police officer speak with the neo-Nazi demonstrators after they left the overpass and pulled off in Lockland. During that encounter, the Evendale officer offers to help one of the neo-Nazis get back to his vehicle, which he'd left near the overpass, and his service dog.

However, once the officer returned to the parking lot where the vehicle was parked, he discovered residents who'd appeared to counter-protest the neo-Nazi's presence had slashed the vehicle's tires.

"You cannot tell me if the tables were not turned if there was a group of African American vigilantes' who had approached this community that we would've seen the same response," said Pastor Julian Cook, Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church.

Ultimately, Evendale Police said the driver of the Jeep was taken to the Evendale Police Department by an officer after officials said "it was determined there was no safe way to retrieve the vehicle."

We asked Whalen if Evendale officers could've done anything differently on Feb. 7th.

"Too early to tell, I have not had the chance to dig into it yet," said Whalen.

He also encouraged everyone to send any information, including videos from the events on Feb. 7th to the email address: evendalespeaks@21cpsolutions.com .

WCPO pressed Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey Tuesday for more information about this group. But she wasn't able to give many answers.

“We do not have any specific intel on that U-Haul as far as where it was rented from. Someone might even own it, I don’t even know. We’re working on that.” McGuffey said. “This is a group of men who are intent or intimidation and hate tactics. By all accounts, it’s a small group and I’m not going to give them any satisfaction by saying they have any larger affiliation with anyone — it’s a bunch of cowards.”

Cook and others on Monday held a press conference calling for a boycott of all businesses in Evendale Friday, in response to how Evendale Police has handled this investigation.

"We will put our money where our values are," said Cook.

The Lockland Local Schools Board of Education is requesting a third-party investigation of both Evendale and Lockland police after the district reviewed and released footage of the neo-Nazis on school property just minutes before dismissal following that interaction with officers.

Watch as an Evendale officer approaches the neo-Nazi's UHaul while it was parked on Lockland schools' property: