LOCKLAND, Ohio — The Village of Lockland will not provide a school resource officer (SRO) to the Lockland School District next school year.
The decision comes after district leaders criticized the Lockland Police Department's handling of the aftermath of a Neo-Nazi demonstration that happened in Lincoln Heights in early February.
Shortly after the demonstration, an Evendale police officer escorted a U-Haul truck transporting the Neo-Nazis. While escorting the U-Haul, leaders with the Lockland School District said it ended up on school grounds just minutes before dismissal.
According to an investigation conducted by 21CP Solutions regarding the incident, the officer escorting the truck believed the school was a church that was not in use. The report states that the officer only realized it was a school upon leaving and that he "indicated then that stopping there was a mistake, and he expressed extreme regret in making this mistake."
Lockland Schools Superintendent Bob Longworth said he feels that village leaders weren't transparent about what happened in the school parking lot. He said that's why the district called for an independent, third party investigation of Evendale and Lockland police officers just five days later.
"This should not have been the board of education's message to deliver in the first place," Longworth said.
But now that decision is coming with consequences.
The village recently notified the school that they will not provide an SRO for the upcoming school year.
"To be honest, it was a bit of disbelief," Longworth said.
Hear more about why the village decided not to provide an SRO to the district next school year:
Village Administrator Doug Wehmeyer said the village was blindsided by the district's press conference. He said that led directly to the decision not to provide an SRO to the school. He said they aren't contractually obligated to provide the district an SRO.
"I can't have an officer in that building worried that their decisions will be questioned," Wehmeyer said. "That investigation and the timing of that was extremely premature."
Wehmeyer said Lockland police did nothing wrong, and he said that they weren't aware of the situation at the school until later that evening. He said that a Lockland police officer was stationed nearby, but wasn't aware of what was going on.
"The traffic stop was not called in on the radio," Wehmeyer said. "Lockland police were not notified that Evendale was conducting the stop."
Wehmeyer told WCPO 9 that he tried to set up a meeting with school leaders just days after the event to review footage and go over their findings.
“When we tried to set that meeting up, we were told by the Superintendent that the school board had already made up their mind," Wehmeyer said.
However, Longworth said that's not the truth.
“That’s 100 percent inaccurate," Longworth said. "If that’s the way he’s recalling events, I would love the opportunity to sit down with him and hash that out.”
Wehmeyer said there are other services that the village provided for the district that have since stopped. That includes:
- Permitted use of a truck the village had loaned for several months
- Lawn maintenance of school grounds by village personnel
- Maintenance of baseball diamonds at Gardner Park used by Lockland HS baseball and softball teams
He said these were not in response to the district's actions and were merely coincidental. Longworth said he doesn't see it that way.
"I don't know how any logical person with an objective mind can take a look at the timeline of the decisions that were made, who made them, and not come to their own conclusions about whether or not something is a coincidence," Longworth said.
Ohio law does not mandate schools to employ an SRO. Longworth said the district is hoping that the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) will work with them to provide an SRO.
A spokesperson for the HCSO confirmed with WCPO 9 that those conversations have begun, but that no contract has been finalized.
Longworth said he worries about students losing out on a potential relationship with local police.
"The decisions being made now by adults based on how they feel about the fact that our board asked questions and demanded that our community know what's going on is now costing kids," Longworth said.
WCPO 9 asked both Longworth and Wehmeyer what it would take for the relationship between the district and the village to be mended. The short answer from both: time.
"The only way that this will ever happen is when cooler heads on both sides of the table prevail," Longworth said.
"If we want to sit down and talk about this and be honest with each other and look at things as they occurred, the village is willing to do that," Wehmeyer said
What happened in Lincoln Heights on Feb. 7?
On Feb. 7, roughly a dozen neo-Nazi demonstrators appeared on the Vision Way overpass connecting Evendale and the Village of Lincoln Heights.
They could be seen on traffic cameras displaying around six black flags with a bright red swastika in the middle. They were also dressed in all black clothing, including black balaclavas and red face masks.
Many of them were also openly carrying rifles.
The group also had a banner displayed on the overpass with white supremacy messaging on it. Also on the banner were symbols the Anti-Defamation League says are often used by white supremacist groups and the Nazi party.
Watch police body camera video of their response to the demonstration:
Mayor Aftab Pureval issued a statement on social media, saying the display was shocking and disgusting.
"Messages of hate like this have no place in our region," wrote Pureval. "It was shocking and disgusting to see swastikas displayed in Evendale today. This is not what we stand for, and it will never be what we stand for."
Hamilton County sheriff's deputies also responded to the scene. In a statement, Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey said they were also working to de-escalate the situation.
"There was an incident earlier today involving men representing a hate group, who positioned themselves on an overpass near the Village of Lincoln Heights. ... Lincoln Heights residents are understandably upset. We continue to work with the community, and emphasize that there is no place for hate in Hamilton County. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office will continue to collaborate with surrounding agencies and the residents of Lincoln Heights," she said, in part.
On traffic cameras, officers could be seen blocking traffic on the overpass.
Shortly before 3 p.m., the people waving the flags began packing their items into a U-Haul parked nearby. As they did this, a large group of people — roughly 20 or more — broke through the police barricades and rushed at the group with the flags.
Photos and videos show community members grabbed ahold of one of the flags and later burned it.
Evendale Police has released hours of body camera footage showing multiple interactions between law enforcement and the neo-Nazi group who appeared that day.
Those interactions did not end after the neo-Nazi group left the overpass in their U-Haul.
Body camera footage shows that U-Haul parked near the Lockland Police Department and the Lockland Local School District Educational Annex building with a cruiser in front of it. Lockland Mayor Mark Mason Sr. said in a release that the officer was not a Lockland officer. Evendale police said it was one of their officers, who was following the group and told them to "leave the area."
In the footage, you see the Evendale officer speak with the masked men, who are loaded into the back of the U-Haul while parked in Lockland. These men ask the police to retrieve a service dog left near the overpass, and one man asks to retrieve his vehicle, described as a black Jeep.
That man takes off his black outfit as to not look like one of the participants. The officer puts him in the back of his vehicle and takes him back to the overpass, seemingly trying to get the car and dog.
When the officer returns to the overpass, he tells the other officers he has one of the men in his car and needs to get the black Jeep behind people who remain at the scene. Those officers tell him the Jeep's tires were slashed by people at the scene.
One of the residents tells the officer that the neo-Nazis made a huge mistake coming to this area, and the officer responds, "Bunch of absolute children — losers."
In a later clip, the officer tells the residents he doesn't know whose car it is, but one resident responds, "You know whose it is."
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."
