Thursday, February 03, 2000
Policeman fired, dog out of job
Lincoln Heights officer fights for canine partner
BY SARA J. BENNETT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LINCOLN HEIGHTS — Ero, the drug-detecting police dog that helped patrol the village for just over a year, no longer will be seen on the street.
Ero's handler, Officer Joseph Euton of Springdale, has been fired, and the village's canine program has been suspended. Police Chief Earnest McCowen has recommended it be terminated.
The problem isn't Ero, Chief McCowen said. The German shepherd bit no one, and he helped with more than 40 arrests last year.
The canine program was halted due to discipline problems with Mr. Euton, Chief McCowen said. Lincoln Heights also couldn't afford equipment the officer requested as crucial to Ero's health and safety.
Mr. Euton is considering suing Lincoln Heights for wrongful termination. He is battling the village over who gets to keep Ero.
“I'm contending that it's not their dog. They haven't paid one dime for it,” Mr. Euton said. “That dog follows me everywhere I go; he sleeps in the bed from time to time — there's an inseparable bond.”
"Other dogs available'
Residents shouldn't be affected by Ero's absence, Chief McCowen said.
“The canine was just a tool, and it was one of many tools we use. We have other dogs available to us (from other departments.)”
Mr. Euton disagreed. He has considered working as a canine officer with another department but said, “Lincoln Heights is a community that needs one.”
Mayor Shirley Salter, who chaired the safety committee when council approved the canine program in October 1998, referred questions to Village Manager Herman Dantzler. He said he had no information about the canine program's effectiveness.
Mr. Euton was an unpaid auxiliary officer in 1998 when the program started. He volunteered to help raise donations to pay for the dog. He said he also contributed more than $400.
Grant and donations
A $2,500 grant from Dogs Against Drugs/Dogs Against Crime in Anderson, Ind., helped pay for Ero's training. Donations also were given for food and veterinary services.
Although the law requires police departments to pay canine officers for off-the-job time spent caring for their dogs, Mr. Euton, who became a part-time officer in October, said he didn't request the pay because he feared the money-strapped village would suspend the canine program.
Then Mr. Euton had a Dec. 6 disciplinary hearing. Village documents show him accused of failing to follow a direct order and of using Ero to track someone not accused of a felony — a violation of village policy.
The day of the hearing, Mr. Euton turned in a letter accusing his supervisor, Sgt. Conroy Chance, of several violations. They included ignoring requests for a device to let Ero out of a police car when officers are attacked, failure to install fans in the police car, and ignoring requests for a letter asking a vet to prescribe drugs to save Ero if he swallowed narcotics.
Mr. Euton said neither he nor the dog would return until conditions improved. And he asked for the overtime compensation due him by law.
Mr. Euton was fired Dec. 23and the canine program was suspended, Chief McCowen said.
Mr. Euton, who still has a job as a private police officer, claims he was punished too harshly and denied a proper appeal. Lincoln Heights' Solicitor William McClain said he feels the firing was legal.
Mr. Euton, who is white, said he also filed complaints last week with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He claims less qualified black officers were hired and promoted over him. He also said that black officers said in meetings that white officers didn't know how to handle black citizens, and that a collage honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the municipal building's lobby is offensive because one image shows white men beating a black man.
Chief McCowen denied that black officers are given preferential treatment. In the deparment of 28, 12 officers are white.
The chief added he did not consider the black officers' comments racist and said a depiction of the civil rights movement isn't offensive in a predominantly black community.
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