AUDIT KNOCKS ALLIANCE POLICE

Mayor Meeting With Legal Advisers To Determine What Action City Should Take
After State Investigation Reveals Questionable Practices, Missing Money And
Drugs

ALLIANCE: A special state audit has revealed problems in the Alliance
Police Department, ranging from the disappearance of more than $14,000 and
drugs, to the questionable sale of a police cruiser and hiring of the
department's drug unit commander/canine officer.

Mayor Judy Carr, who requested the investigation, and members of her
administration were meeting late last night with legal advisers to
determine what action they should take in light of the state findings. Carr
said she expected at the meeting to make decisions concerning the status of
some police personnel, including Police Chief James R. Black, whom she
called ultimately responsible for happenings in his department.

Stark County Prosecutor Robert D. Horowitz was unwilling yesterday to
speculate on whether there will be any federal or local criminal charges as
a result of the investigation. Responsibility for such prosecution lies
with Horowitz's office.

``Keep in mind that the audit is a civil finding and shouldn't be
interpreted by anybody that because a person's name is in the findings that
he committed a crime,'' Horowitz said. He did point out, though, that
``things in this audit raise an obvious need for further inquiry. This also
is a good blueprint for Alliance to rebuild its property room and property
handling procedures.''

The 34-page report released yesterday by State Auditor Jim Petro holds
Black and former evidence room manager Patrolman Gary Mathews jointly
liable under Ohio law for $14,149 missing from 20 Alliance criminal cases
between 1993 and 1996.

Seven other officers also were linked to the missing money and drugs.

Carr said the city's rules since 1969 have made the police chief the
custodian of all property coming into the police department. He is
responsible for its safekeeping and accurate records, she said.

``I truly believe that it will all wash out that most of these people will
be cleared,'' Carr said. ``However, I'm not accepting the chief's lack of
information of what he hasn't forwarded to the administration. It all
started with the $5,000'' missing in a 1994 drug case that wasn't reported
missing until mid-1995.

``When he failed to report that to this office, that was gross neglect of
duty. It is imperative that he keep this office informed.''

Auditors also questioned several incidents involving Gregory Burr,
narcotics unit commander and canine officer -- the way he was hired in
Alliance as a ``certified'' canine officer and the sale of an Alliance
cruiser to the former department where he worked. Soon after the sale, Burr
owned the car.

Burr, who was hired in March 1995, was cited for $315 in cash missing from
a 1996 drug case.

Six other officers -- two retirees, one deceased and three still on the
force -- also were named in the audit. Most were the last person to have
handled the money or drugs, primarily in transporting the materials to or
from the Canton-Stark County Crime Lab for analysis, according to the report.

The report pointed out that marijuana and cocaine, valued at more than
$2,000, was found missing. Auditors said it may be impossible to determine
what happened to all the drugs because the department has used some seized
drugs in training the city's drug dog, rather than using material saturated
with drug aromas.

Black, Mathews and Burr didn't respond to requests for comment following
release of the report yesterday, 10 months after state auditors began
examining Alliance police records in conjunction with the FBI, the Stark
County Sheriff's Department and the Stark County prosecutor's office.

In a two-page summary of the audit, Petro pointed out that in 1993 the city
agreed to sell (tax-free) a 1989 cruiser for $2,000 to the Smith Township
Police Department in Mahoning County, where Burr was chief at the time.
Black turned over the cash to the city auditor's office and the vehicle was
transferred to the township after Burr signed for the vehicle. Within a
month of the purchase, Burr transferred title to himself.

When Smith Township personnel were questioned by auditors, they said the
township never purchased the vehicle.

Upon further review, the audit said it was found that Burr twice used the
vehicle as collateral on a personal bank loan, even listing it the first
time before the Alliance City Council had passed the ordinance to sell it.

Two years later, Black recommended to the Alliance safety-service director
the emergency temporary appointment of Burr to the Alliance Police
Department. Black corresponded that Burr is a ``certified canine handler
with a certified canine.''

However, records show that the department later spent $3,500 for the
purchase of the dog and training of the animal and Burr.