CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — Robert Ware is just a few weeks into his new role as director of public safety in Circleville.
Ware, the former police chief in Worthington, came out of retirement to take on the responsibility of overseeing the troubled police department.
“My goal is to have an organization that is one of the best in the state and one the public has trust in,” he said.
The city has faced a series of leadership struggles this year. In March, police Chief Shawn Baer was placed on leave after facing allegations of misconduct. Then his replacement, acting Deputy Chief Doug Davis, was also placed on leave due to allegations of misconduct.
Baer retired and Davis resigned, ending the investigations.
In August, Deputy Chief Officer Jon Farrelly was placed on leave after a harassment complaint was made against him. He is currently being investigated by an outside agency.
Ware was hired a few days later.
“I see my job mostly as stabilizing things and also dealing with the remaining open investigations and developing the officers and developing the leadership teams, so it is quite a big challenge. It is a fun one because I enjoy watching the development of someone becoming the best version of themselves,” he said.
His goals include ensuring the well-being of Circleville’s police officers, many of whom he says are young, eager and craving stable leadership.
“What is important to me is the officers know what their job is. They know how to do their jobs. They can go out and be confident in that performance but also moral compasses are aligned where they need to be aligned because as public servants, they are held to a higher standard. There is an expectation that we are going to be morally and ethically pure in our jobs,” Ware said.
He also wants to implement a culture of accountability to prevent misconduct from happening in the first place.
“On the core, we are doing our jobs but I also have to look at where did we go wrong? Where are our shortcomings? Why have people put themselves in positions where they can be accused of wrongdoings?” Ware said. “Intervening at the first time something appears to be wrong, we can prevent it from developing into a performance issue without long-lasting detrimental results or getting into a situation where you have people engaging in improper behavior, whether that is driven by not knowing or not caring anymore. The culture is going to allow us to better control those outcomes.”
In the last few months, news of trouble within the police department has at times been followed by silence from city leadership. Ware hopes to bring some transparency.
“There are challenges sometimes in what you can share, but if you can communicate to the public and share what you can share and are seen as authentic and genuine, they are going to be more apt to trust what you are telling them to be true,” he said.
The city has spent thousands of dollars on investigations and payouts this year. Ware said he would rather spend the department’s money on education and training for the department.
He also said he has trust in the leadership that is in place now.
Ware is the first to fill this role since the previous safety director was hired in April and fired before being given a chance to do the job. Ware plans to stay in the position and see his goals through.
“I feel blessed the city council president and mayor have expressed confidence in me. They are giving me the latitude to tell them what they need to hear, maybe not what they want to hear and to take my expertise and my training and experience to get on the right path moving forward,” he said.
The city is also working with an outside consultant who will do an independent review of the police department. Ware said he would be able to use that information to identify where else the department could use improvement.