An Ohio Department
of Natural Resources law enforcement administrator who was demoted
December 13th, 2018 for serious failures as a supervisor by the-then
Kasich Administration was promoted May 29th by the DeWine
Administration.
Returning to Natural
Resources Administrator 4 posting to head up the agency’s Lake Erie
parks and watercraft law enforcement unit is Patrick R. Brown who is
to collect $49.22 per hour. This is $2.46 per hour more than Brown
earned during his five-month demotion to Administrator 3.
In a teleconference
interview, Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz said she was not
specifically involved in Brown’s subsequent promotion. However,
Mertz says she has confidence in the people who were behind the shock
probation, explaining the individuals she selected as first- and
second-tier administrators when she became director “are excellent
people.”
Glenn Cobb, chief of
the Ohio Division of Parks and Watercraft, was directly involved in
Brown’s reinstatement. Cobb said Brown “deserved a second
chance.”
Mertz also blamed
much of the associated issues that saw Brown get into hot water were
the result of paperwork snafus that confused and distorted what field
staff and supervisors were responsible for and how they were to
report issues.
For his part, Brown
declined to comment, noting that his superiors provided the
applicable information.
Yet a detailed
10-page investigation conducted departmentally in-house by Peter
Novotny, assistant chief of the Ohio Division of Wildlife, points
toward supervisory shortcomings by Brown.
This report was
filed internally October 19th, 2018, and was obtained via Ohio’s
open record laws by John Davis, the now-retired Natural Resources law
enforcement chief, and a former Wildlife Division wildlife officer
assigned to Wildlife District Three (Northeast Ohio).
Novotny’s report
details six egregious supervisory miscues, noting in the document
that Brown’s “.. enforcement staff has had multiple issues of
evidence mismanagement, failure to conduct proper criminal
investigations, adhere to policy, and process reports in a timely
manner.”
Among the report’s
findings of supervisory deficiencies was a failure to ensure that
“sensitive” law enforcement equipment be properly retrieved and
inventoried from an officer placed on temporary medical disability.
This equipment included a taser, body armor, uniform items, badges
and a firearm, Novothy’s report found.
“The investigation
shows that Lt. Colonel Pat Brown failed to provide supervision by not
ensuring that law enforcement equipment that was issued to (name
withheld by writer) was secured when she was separated from ODNR.”
A more serious
matter occurred December 29th, 2017 when a search warrant was
conducted on a camper located at 4,870-acre East Fork State Park in
Clermont County. This “...camper was not properly seized or secured
while in possession of ODNR” but “was simply left” at the
campsite where it was broken into with items stolen, thus breaking
the chain of evidence, Novotny’s investigation says.
Subsequently, the
camper was “…eventually stolen from the State Park and later
recovered at a private residence,” Novotny’s investigative report
reads.
While the
investigator of the case was demoted – and whom Cobb did not
entirely rule out eventually being promoted - Brown was singled out
in Novotny’s investigation for failing to “...provide adequate
supervision and guidance once he recognized a major issue in timely
reporting...” into the Natural Resources Department’s
reporting/filing system.
By far the most
flagrant lack of adequate supervision began June 30th, 2017. That
instance involved “...an alleged rape of a juvenile was reported on
Pymatuning Lake,” Novotny’s 10-page investigation findings
reveal. Pymatuning Reservoir and the Ohio State Park are located in
Ashtabula County.
Novotny’s work
found that the investigator in the alleged rape case - as well as
“all his supervisors” - how his work was not being completed
within departmental paperwork guidelines and procedures.
The investigation
says Brown was notified via four separate e-mails how the
investigator – who was eventually reassigned, Cobb said - “was
failing to complete this case starting on February 2018 to May 2018.”
“Brown stated that
he never opened the sex offense case report to check the details or
progress. Brown just assumed that all cases are being handled
accordingly and this report is simply an administrative oversight.”
“This
investigation shows that Lt. Colonel Pat Brown failed to supervise
Investigator (name withheld by writer) handling of a major crime.
Brown was aware that there were issues with (name withheld by writer)
work and should have taken steps to ensure this case was properly
investigated. The sexual assault case remained open and showed no
work completed since December of 2017,” Novotny’s investigative
report says.
Ultimately on
December 12th, 2018, Brown was presented with a Natural Resources
Department “Discipline Agreement” affidavit affirming his
demotion to Natural Resources Administrator 3 with a reduction in
pay. This document was signed by Brown and two other Natural
Resources Department officials with the agency’s official Personnel
Actions Report being filed the next day.
The agreement did
allow Brown to retain his law enforcement commission, and also
spelled out that his duties could include – but were not limited to
- “...preparing grant applications, coast guard reporting,
supervision of non-law-enforcement personnel, and at least 20% law
enforcement duties.”
In looking at the
10-page investigation by Novotny and the subsequent demotion of
Brown, both Mertz and Cobb concluded no serious breach of supervision
by the officer ensued. Instead, Mertz stated as to how she is
“confident he (Brown) can do the job” in his newly appointed law
enforcement supervisory position, and that Brown will “attack the
challenges with a lot of energy.”
Furthermore, Cobb
said Brown deserved “a second chance” and that the issues
outlined in Novotny’s investigation did not rise to a level which
warranted keeping Brown at the Natural Resources Administrator 3
level.
“I felt Mr. Brown
accepted some responsibility,” Cobb said.
If anything, Mertz
said, the failure was really not the fault of beggared leadership
style or impoverished supervisory skills. Rather, it was due to a
systemic failure of a hold-over reporting and filing system of
required paperwork.
To that end, Mertz
says, her team is all ready tackling the problem. The Natural
Resources Department, Mertz says, is the process of replacing the
old reporting-filing paperwork system with an all-new and much
improved model. And all department employees will undergo rigorous
retooling as to how to properly and accurately dot the “Is” and
cross the “Ts.”
“I am doing and
putting together the best team for the best (product) for the
taxpayers of Ohio,” Mertz said.
Skeptical is Davis
whose career in later years was typically out of the public’s
purview, often being involved in internal affairs. His work
experience also included exposure as a wildlife officer assigned to
Summit County.
Davis likewise
emphasized in a telephone interview that he has no axe to grind with
anyone, including Brown whom Davis says is an engaging person with a
kindly persona.
Yet Davis says he
came forward to Mertz with a personal appeal and the FOI documents
because he believes her Natural Resources Department “is not on the
right track” and
remains as dysfunctional as ever.
“It all comes back
to doing the same things that we saw were being done before,” Davis
said. “It’s just like the hands on a clock that keep going round
and round.”
- Jeffrey L. Frschkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
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