Off-duty officer's gun lost/ stolen from Hamilton Co. courthouse

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that Evendale police officer Stephen Roach reported his personal .40-caliber Glock missing at 1 p.m. Monday, 2½ hours after he left it in a fourth-floor restroom, according to a Hamilton County Sheriff's Office report.

According to the report, Roach didn't immediately realize that the gun was missing. When he went back to the restroom looking for it, the gun was gone.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

From the story:

According to Hamilton County Courthouse rules, police officers are allowed to have loaded guns with them inside the courthouse. No one else is allowed to take weapons into the courthouse - even if he has a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

According to Hamilton County Courthouse rules, police officers are allowed to have loaded guns with them inside the courthouse. No one else is allowed to take weapons into the courthouse - even if he has a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Roach was not in uniform Monday, the opening day of a trial stemming from a 2002 lawsuit filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. He was cleared of wrongdoing in that case. The gun he carried into the courthouse was not his department-issued weapon.

The newspaper says Roach declined to comment about the missing gun Friday, but that he did say the gun was loaded, and it was a weapon he used for off-duty security work.

Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis said this is not the first time an officer has lost a gun at the courthouse. He said it has happened at least twice before.

Again, from the story:

After authorities were alerted Monday to the missing gun, Leis' courthouse security officers searched the five-story courthouse, both inside and outside, he said. Each of the 30 courtrooms was searched, as was all the trash.

Leis doesn't think that the gun is still in the courthouse.

"Basically, I think somebody found it and went out the door," Leis said. "They got a nice gun for nothing."

If Roach had realized his gun was missing earlier, Leis said he would have ordered the courthouse locked. Everyone would have been required to leave through metal detectors.

Evendale Police Chief Gary Foust was out of town Friday, but Evendale Lt. Tom Oakes told the Enquirer the chief would review the issue of the missing gun next week.

Had it been discovered that an Ohio CHL-holder had left their firearm behind, it is likely that criminal charges would be filed, and their license would be suspended.

Some anti-gun law enforcement bureaucrats have argued that ordinary citizens cannot be trusted with firearms without extensive and ongoing training, such as what they receive.

But as this and another recent incident with an Ohio police chief has proven, anyone can make a mistake. We hope this fact is applied to the CHL-holder, if ever similar circumstances should arise.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry understands that, due to the anti-gun positions of certain liberal law enforcement groups and other factors, there is a perceived chasm between law enforcement and the general population. We are committed to closing that gap. We also believe that law enforcement officers and private citizens largely share the same goals.

One of the ways to start closing the gap is to end the preferential treatment afforded to any group/entity. If private citizens and law enforcement officers are asking for the same changes, the law will be improved much sooner.

Ohioans For Concealed Carry looks forward to working with Ohio's law enforcement groups to ensure that all citizens, not just law enforcement officers, receive relief from some of the egregious provisions inserted into Ohio's CHL law by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Bob Taft. All citizens deserve equal protection under the law.