Wheeling Intelligencer: Probe Public Safety Agency

The editors at the Wheeling Intelligencer write:

Some Ohioans may be wondering whether they need to find a better way to enforce the law involving the state's top law enforcement agency, the Department of Public Safety.

Reports of wrongdoing in the department, including allegations by some former heads of the State Highway Patrol, have been rampant for some time. Gov. Ted Strickland's nominee to head the department, Cathy Collins-Taylor, was rejected by the state Senate Tuesday. That happened because of her involvement in a fiasco in which a "sting" operation to catch prison inmates in a smuggling ring at the governor's residence was canceled.

There's more. This week it was reported the Department of Public Safety's top lawyer, Joshua Engel, has been demoted and had his pay cut. The episode may be linked to a report by the state inspector general that accused Collins-Taylor of lying under oath about the governor's residence sting.

It was alleged that Engel suggested to another official in the department that the inspector general should be "set up." Engel was accused of saying a secret security assessment of the governor's residence should be leaked to the inspector general. If that official released the document, it would be a violation of the federal Homeland Security law.

The document never was leaked - but Engel's conversation did come to light. An internal investigation concluded he did discuss releasing the secret security document. He denies he intended to use it to "set up" the inspector general.

Good heavens. Some Buckeye State residents may be wondering whether the bad guys are on the wrong side of the fence, so to speak, in the Department of Public Safety.

It certainly appears that a thorough housecleaning is in order. State legislators should consider the matter carefully. There have been too many indications during the past several months that the Department of Public Safety has a culture of politics, not law enforcement.

(Source: Editorial, Wheeling Intelligencer, 5/27/10)