Police chief leaves firearm in library; punished only after media broadcast

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Reynoldsburg Police Chief Jeanne Miller has been suspended for a week without pay, the penalty she recommended herself for leaving her purse - with a loaded 9 mm pistol inside - at the Reynoldsburg branch of the Columbus Metropolitan library six weeks ago.

From the Dispatch story:

Mayor Robert McPherson meted out the discipline after an investigation by Safety/Service Director Sharon Reichard. Miller, who has been chief since 1994 and earns $96,682 a year, will begin serving her 40-hour suspension Feb. 22.

"It is truly unfortunate that this issue was not resolved before some cowardly, unnamed source contacted the media,'' McPherson said in a memo to Miller, referring to a television report broadcast last weekend.

The anonymous call didn't affect the investigation but did embarrass Miller and the Reynoldsburg Division of Police, McPherson wrote.

Miller said yesterday she must take responsibility for her mistake.
"I need to be held to a higher standard,'' Miller said.

According to the report, Miller forgot the gun on Jan. 3, which was a holiday for city employees. Miller's off-duty status has raised questions in some circles about whether she should even have been in the library, which is a publicly-owned facility, and is posted with "no-guns" signs containing the language specified for public buildings by Ohio Revised Code.

Last summer, Attorney General Jim Petro issued an opinion which concluded that while off-duty police officers would not be required to obtain permits to carry hidden guns, they do face the same restrictions as CHL-holders in many situations. OFCC's own analysis of the Petro opinion is that unless the library has a specific policy prohibiting weapons (above and beyond the state prohibition), that Miller did not violate the law when entering the library.

On the other hand, if she is carrying her firearm in her purse in the car when off-duty, there is NO question she is violating the law, according to Petro's official opinion. Petro ruled off-duty LEOs must follow the same "plain sight" laws governing CHL-holders.

Again, from the Dispatch:

Miller, who is working on her master's degree, went to the Reynoldsburg Public Library to use a computer and had slung her purse holding the weapon over a chair.

Miller said she drove away from the library and realized that she had left her purse.

She had trouble getting through to the library by phone. She radioed a police dispatcher and asked the dispatcher to contact the library about the purse.

When she got back to the library, Miller said, she sprinted to the chair and found the purse and gun. She then radioed back to the dispatcher.

Reichard confirmed that it was a matter of minutes between the first and second radio transmissions.

Some officers learned about what happened, and one of them confronted Miller on Jan. 20, Reichard said. Miller reported the incident to Reichard, and an internal affairs investigation was launched.

"I probably should have gone to Mrs. Reichard right away,'' Miller said. "I was wrong that I didn't.''

During the investigation, Miller volunteered that she had also left her gun at a restaurant about five years ago, Reichard said.

In noting that the penalty Miller proposed for herself is more severe than that given to other officers in similar incidents, Safety/Service Director Reichard mentioned other incidents of officers making mistakes with regard to their firearms. In the past, a Reynoldsburg officer who had left her gun in her purse at a store was given a written reprimand, and a male officer was suspended one day without pay when his pre-teen son took a loaded gun off a kitchen counter and fired it into a closet.

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

OFCC is not, of course, calling for the Chief to be charged. In fact, this is a perfect example of how unnecessary victim zone prohibitions are, and of how the mere presence of a concealed firearm in the hands of a law-abiding citizen is not a threat.

When, on two separate occasions, a top law enforcement officer with extensive firearms training left her firearm unattended, the gun didn't jump out and kill someone. No harm resulted. Anyone can make a mistake. We hope these same lessons are applied to CHL-holders 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.