WHITEHALL, Ohio — Whitehall City Council voted against a proposition to investigate the city's police department after reports of leadership and work environment concerns.
Council voted 6-1 against the proposal, with the only 'yes' vote coming from the councilman who proposed the resolution, Gerald Dixon.
Earlier this year, the Columbus chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police raised concerns about officer morale within the department along with accusations of retaliation and controversial policies from the police chief and deputy chief.
FOP Lodge #9 President Brian Steel previously said issues have been building up for a couple of years and FOP members unanimously passed a vote of no confidence against Whitehall Police Chief Mike Crispen. The chief called the allegations a political stunt.
After Tuesday night's vote, Crispen said he is ready to move past this ordeal.
"What this really does is it allows the department to put this aside and start focusing on what is the actual issue here and seeing if we can get back to doing the business of the people," Cripsen said.
Steel, disappointed in the vote, said this is not the end.
"There are more steps we can take going forward and we will," Steel said. "We can go to the citizens. We can do ballot initiatives. We can pass around signatures and have the citizens come back and demand an investigation."
Part of the allegations against the police department included enforcing "quotas" on its officers, a claim which Crispen denied.
The department has also recently fired two of its police officers, both of whom Steel says were grievance reps for the FOP. Crispen said their union position had nothing to do with their terminations.