MANSFIELD — Mansfield police Chief Keith Porch said he felt a trio of emotions on Monday when the resignation of Officer Jordan Moore was accepted.
Porch, the assistant chief when Moore, 25, was sworn into the department in 2018, said he felt sadness, frustration and anger when the officer resigned before a pre-disciplinary hearing.
“I’m sad in that I had high hopes for Officer Moore when he began his future with the Mansfield Police Department to have a successful career,” Porch said Tuesday morning in his office.
“I’m frustrated that he chose to conduct himself in a manner that resulted in him being disciplined — and angered that, ultimately, he could have been in front of me (facing) termination,” the chief said.
Porch also lamented the fact that, “99 percent of our officers are dedicated to serving this department and this community,” and that Moore’s actions detract from those efforts and take MPD leadership time that could be spent furthering more positive efforts.
Moore, placed on paid administrative leave June 16 after he pursued and shot a man suspected in an earlier shooting, chose to quit the department Monday after internal investigations found he violated multiple department policies stemming from his investigations of two separate traffic accidents in May.
The pending discipline and ultimate resignation were not related to the June shooting, according to Porch, who said that incident is still being investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Investigation.
“Once the shooting investigation is completed, the case will be forwarded to the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office for review,” Porch said, adding the prosecutor’s office was notified Monday of Moore’s resignation.
In a May 19 accident on Ashland Road, an internal review found Moore did not respond to a reported hit/skip accident. Instead, he called the complainant on the phone and advised her “if she could get more information a report would be completed then,” according to MPD internal investigation documents.
“Officer Moore did not take photos due to not responding to the scene,” the investigative report said.
Another officer later became involved to complete the investigation, the report said.
“There were three calls for service in reference to one accident on three different days as a result of Officer Moore not completing the accident investigation on the original date,” the report said.
In an accident on South Diamond Street on May 25, Moore was dispatched to a hit/skip accident. He then left the scene and located the suspect, but did not conduct an “OVI or physical control investigation, nor does he complete an accident investigation, but instead arrests the suspect for intoxication (drunkenness),” according to the internal investigation.
The report also questions Moore’s veracity.
“Officer Moore is being untruthful stating there was ‘no relevance’ between the suspect’s arrest and the initial hit/skip investigation that he had been dispatched to, and he is also untruth(ful) stating the keys were outside of the suspect vehicle,” the investigative report said.
The alleged violations came one year after Moore was disciplined for failing to photograph or collect evidence after a hit-skip crash. In addition, in that incident, Moore completed a report that had “inaccurate, false, or improper information,” according to a copy of the violation.
In the latest incidents, Porch said the internal complaints, initiated by the department’s command staff, were investigated and that Moore’s performance was judged to be unsatisfactory.
In addition, Moore was suspended for 10 days last fall after he dragged a handcuffed teenager. He returned to work on Jan. 11. The original suspension had been 60 days, but was shortened based on results of the arbitration of a previous discipline case involving Moore, Safety-Service Director Lori Cope said in January.
Moore received 50 days of back pay in that case.
Porch said he understood the concerns of the community regarding Moore, a Willard native who graduated from the police academy in May 2017. He was hired by the Mansfield Police Department in July 2018 after stints at the New Washington and Sandusky police departments.
“I have heard the frustration from the community in regards to this particular officer … that’s for sure,” the chief said. “But there are procedures in a way that I have to act as the chief of police.
“In dealing with these disciplinary issues, it’s never black and white. I can assure you it’s gray.”
Porch said the department’s goal in disciplining officers is to make them perform better in their work.
“When you continue to fail, then we have no choice but to proceed down a different path. It’s a sad day for the community that embraced him when he was hired and a sad day for the department.
“Every officer needs to realize that the way they conduct themselves and in the business of the police department … it’s viewed seriously by me, by (Cope) and the community,” he said.
Moore did receive commendations during his tenure with MPD.
Moore was one of four officers nominated for a department award in September 2020 for their efforts to assist a family whose vehicle was stuck in flood waters at North Mulberry and West Sixth streets. He and the other officers waded in water chest deep to rescue a woman and her two children, ages 12 and 9, from the vehicle and carried them to safety.
He was also one of two officers recommended for special commendation after a car stop in July 2020. Moore and the other officer found a loaded handgun beside the front driver’s seat and a second stolen handgun elsewhere in the car. They also found a backpack that contained drugs packaged for sale, including pills, crack cocaine, heroin and marijuana.
But Moore’s personnel file also contains several disciplinary items, including written reprimands and suspensions.
Porch said the department’s progressive disciplinary path requires violations to be of a “like” nature to be considered together. He said that Jordan was previously disciplined for failing to complete reports and following department rules and regulations, facts which were going to lead the chief to recommend his termination.
“He was definitely looking at termination, which would have been my recommendation, ultimately to be decided by (Cope). I had to follow the process,” the chief said.
“Rewind and go to the hit/skip (in May 2020) where he was given a three-day suspension that was reversed by an arbitrator to a written reprimand,” Porch said.
“There is obviously a pattern in the way he handles hit/skip crashes that does not meet my expectations and/or the policy of the Mansfield Police Department of being a professional officer,” the chief said.
