November 11, 2025 • 10 mins
Lima Police Major Ron Holman joined the show to discuss how the department is operating at a manpower deficit with seven officers on paid administrative leave following an officer involved shooting. He also talked about the department's new focus on proactive policing.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today with our city of line of Segment, we welcome
in Major Ron Holman with the LPD.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
RON.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning, and a lot of crossover between vets and
cops right somewhat.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You know, I personally want to thank all the veterans
out there that have served and continue to serve. Thank
you for your service. I work with a lot of veterans.
I've got veterans in my family here, and I'm very
proud of them.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, that's you know, a lot of people come out
of the military end up in some sort of form
of law enforcement, so there's clearly a camaraderie there as well. Recently,
a pretty high profile incident. People obviously heard about the
shootout that occurred a couple of weeks ago, and that's
being adjudicated, but I wanted to ask you about when
(00:49):
that happens. Like in this incident, there were seven officers
that ended up being put on what's called administrative leave,
and they do that for various reasons, but that basically
means they can't do any work for you, right, doesn't
that ham string you manpower wise?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, it is a pinch manpower wise, like anything that
happens where we have officers that are off. I mean,
we make adjustments to schedules and and you know, we're
people throw out the word family a lot, but you
know we're like we are like a real family being
that sometimes you know, we we disagree with each other here,
but when things happen like this and something big happens,
(01:27):
we all come together. They're on administrative leave, which is
standard when someone's involved in an incident like this. It
doesn't entail any wrongdoing. But and that's for a couple
of reasons. Number one, we have to this has to
be investigated. I mean, you know, use of force follows
under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution of
(01:48):
the Bill Rights. It's a seizure by the government. You know,
some people call it the ultimate seizure. When when a
police officer uses lethal force. This has got to be
judged by a standard of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment.
It's a big deal. It's not something anybody wants to rush.
So that has to be done number one. And number two,
we also need to look out for the officers well
being because this is a very traumatic incident and we
(02:08):
want to make sure that they're okay to come back.
So when before they come back, there's a they'll they'll
talk to a professional and make sure that they're they're
good to go, and they're and they're ready to go,
and it's something that we do all the time. Without
getting into a lot of details on this incident, I
just want to say how proud I am of the
officers that were involved in that incident and all the
other officers at the Line of Police Department. This was
(02:29):
a sudden thing and I don't think they could have
handled any better than they did.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And I believe the number of seven that were put
on leave, that seems like a very significant portion of
your manpower.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And that is that's almost a well, that would be
an entire shift of officers working at a given time.
Typically that varies somewhat, you know. I'm thankfully they all
seem to be doing okay and hopefully they'll be back
to work here real soon.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So and is there just a set time limit on
their leave or is it literally until the investigation determines
what it varies?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It varies. I'm hoping that, like I said, that they'll
be back relatively soon, but that again, it's not something
we want to rush in terms of I mean, we
will work some overtime and we'll cover this stuff here.
We want to make sure we get this right, both
for their sake and for the city.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Sure. I guess what I'm getting at is who makes
that decision or is it varies.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Based on the incident in question? Right now, the investigation
has been turned over to OHIOBCI, so that that's kind
of their call here as far as when they're going
to close this out.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Gotcha from there, So it'll kind of be their call
is when they'll be able to return. So all right, well,
you know, the I guess the silver lining of that
incident is nobody was killed at least as far as we.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Know, thankfully.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, so hopefully that can get back to work as
quickly as possible. But that's the thing we don't always
think about when all right, an officer's on amit straight
of leave you. If it's one, it's an inconvenience, But
if it's seven, that's quite an adjustment, right.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It is, you know, And I I don't know if
people have thought about this way. You know, there has
been a police procedural, one form or another on television
since the creation of television. Oh yeah, and if you
think about every season there is, but now some of
them have been more comedies, you know, like Barney Miller
or Brooklyn ninety nine, or been very serious like you know,
(04:29):
homicide or the Wire. So we as Americans, I think,
have a very ingrained idea of what a police first
of all, use of force encounter should look like. What
a you know, the timeline for a crime to be
solved out to be an hour, And I know I
don't even take that lightly here, but we do have
a very very strong opinion. I do too, even having
(04:50):
done this for twenty seven years. You look at things
and you have questions. These things in the real world,
I mean, they just take time, I mean, and it's unfortunate.
But I know that DCI is working on this as
hard as they can, getting all the facts in there
and making sure they have everything documented completely and then
and then we'll see where things fall from there then.
But so the only thing I had to ask is
(05:11):
just when you see things like this, just try to
wait to pass, you know, too much of a judgment
call on this until everything's kind of all the facts
are in.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, and of course you think about the time that passes,
but you also it reminds us all that, you know,
what apparently in this was just a relatively normal traffic
stop for seemingly nothing turns into a major incident where
there's what dozens of shots fires.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
You know, And and that's the thing with this line
of work, and it's you never know what's going to happen.
I have seen some really crazy things over the years
that I didn't think I'd ever see, and some of
them were thankfully, very funny, and some of them were
very tragic. And that's again part of the reason why
(05:58):
police are so caught and as much as they can
be in this line of work, because you know, if
something like this is going to cur if somebody has
a mind to do a police officer harm, they can
do it. But like I said, again, without getting too
much details or anything, I could not be prouder of
the way they conducted themselves. They were professional, They did
(06:19):
what they should have. Officer Metz thankfully is recovering from
his wounds and he seems to be doing doing great
and we're hoping to have him back here real soon
as well as well as the other six officers that
are on leave.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Awesome. We're talking with Major Ron Holman, Line of a
police department. With that out of the way, uh, the
focus of course. Chief Hile was just installed as chief
here what a month or two ago, and he's taken
a fairly aggressive tack on trying to cut into well
all crime, I guess, but specifically you know, making Lima
(06:56):
safe and some parameters that he has set up. A
pro active is sort of the buzzword here.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Professional and proactive would be the two words I think
that he won't st emphasize on this. We are going
to be very proactive in our law enforcement efforts because
specifically we want to drop violent crime and in crimes
against property as well. He's made it real clear that
he wants Linema to be ranked in the top ten
safest cities in Ohio and that's something we're going to
(07:25):
push for. And that's the overall goal of everything we're doing.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
And when you say proactive, I mean, I know what
proactive means. Well, what are some detailed things that would
be proactive policing that you guys are going to maybe
take up here?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I we you know, we've never had a better time
where we share information between investigative services and patrol where
you know, identifying you know, in any city line included.
There are a group of individuals who cause the vast
majority of the violent crime that goes on. And when
we share information and we and we identify the people
that are doing this, then then we can take more
(08:02):
appropriate action. And because if you didn't, if you deal
with those problem people that are out there inflicting harm
on others, then the city becomes safer overall.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
So you were saying that that could allow you to
concentrate to patrols or manpower in certain areas that geographically
or with the you know people and sometimes groups of
people that you know are doing this.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Sure and you know, and then you know, you concentrate
on the serious crimes. I mean obviously gun crimes and
homicides and shootings, but we also look at quality of
life issues there with loud noise. You know, music out
of cars typically dies down, you know, over the colder months,
but when summertime and spring comes back around. That's one
of the biggest complaints we get with neighbors is that
a lot of music, and that's something that we try
to take enforcement action with as well.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Now, the proactive approach, especially if it's not been done
for a while or if it's going to be you're
going to interact more with the public then, and maybe
not the preferred way at times right for the public.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
What we've tried to do from the patrol standpoint is
the officers are working as much as we can. They
work the same beat every day, so every day they work,
so they're actually out there and they're having contact with
a lot of the same people. So two things from that.
Number One, they get to know the problem people in
their neighborhood and the problem houses and that kind of thing,
(09:21):
but also the people that are around there that aren't
a problem get to know the officer and he gets
to know them or her, him or her, and that
kind of familiarity leads to more comfortable sharing of information,
more comfortable to call the police if they know who
have an idea, who they're probably going to deal with.
It just makes things better for everybody. So I guess
(09:46):
that hopefully will stem some of the negative interactions that
we may or may not have if you know the
officer that you're dealing with as opposed to somebody. And again,
as much as we can with that, I mean we're
a fairly young department right now. We're always hiring, but
we always had turnover, so as much as we can,
we try to keep the same faces out there.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Well, I guess hopefully all that will be very positive
and that goal can be reached that you were talking
about in the city of Limo with the being in
the top ten. And I guess some of your guys
will be there Friday for Flip the Switch, right, Yeah,
a fair event. Yeah, big crowd downtown, and we appreciate
all your efforts, Major Holman, and we hope you can
(10:26):
get those officers back quickly.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And real quick. Todd, I just I want to thank
I can't name everybody, but we've had so many, you know,
phone calls and people will offering to bring up food
and stuff, and I really I know Lima is a
great city and they love the LPD. I mean we've
you know, we have issues one way or another, different
things come up, but when something really bad like this,
they really showed how much they care about us and
(10:49):
how much we care about them. So thank you very much,
lave community.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Thank you all right, thank you. That's Major Ron Holman.
Today with our city of line of Segment, we welcome
in Major Ron Holman with the LPD.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
RON.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning, and a lot of crossover between vets and
cops right somewhat.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You know, I personally want to thank all the veterans
out there that have served and continue to serve. Thank
you for your service. I work with a lot of veterans.
I've got veterans in my family here, and I'm very
proud of them.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, that's you know, a lot of people come out
of the military end up in some sort of form
of law enforcement, so there's clearly a camaraderie there as well. Recently,
a pretty high profile incident. People obviously heard about the
shootout that occurred a couple of weeks ago, and that's
being adjudicated, but I wanted to ask you about when
(00:49):
that happens. Like in this incident, there were seven officers
that ended up being put on what's called administrative leave,
and they do that for various reasons, but that basically
means they can't do any work for you, right, doesn't
that ham string you manpower wise?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, it is a pinch manpower wise, like anything that
happens where we have officers that are off. I mean,
we make adjustments to schedules and and you know, we're
people throw out the word family a lot, but you
know we're like we are like a real family being
that sometimes you know, we we disagree with each other here,
but when things happen like this and something big happens,
(01:27):
we all come together. They're on administrative leave, which is
standard when someone's involved in an incident like this. It
doesn't entail any wrongdoing. But and that's for a couple
of reasons. Number one, we have to this has to
be investigated. I mean, you know, use of force follows
under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution of
(01:48):
the Bill Rights. It's a seizure by the government. You know,
some people call it the ultimate seizure. When when a
police officer uses lethal force. This has got to be
judged by a standard of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment.
It's a big deal. It's not something anybody wants to rush.
So that has to be done number one. And number two,
we also need to look out for the officers well
being because this is a very traumatic incident and we
(02:08):
want to make sure that they're okay to come back.
So when before they come back, there's a they'll they'll
talk to a professional and make sure that they're they're
good to go, and they're and they're ready to go,
and it's something that we do all the time. Without
getting into a lot of details on this incident, I
just want to say how proud I am of the
officers that were involved in that incident and all the
other officers at the Line of Police Department. This was
(02:29):
a sudden thing and I don't think they could have
handled any better than they did.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And I believe the number of seven that were put
on leave, that seems like a very significant portion of
your manpower.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And that is that's almost a well, that would be
an entire shift of officers working at a given time.
Typically that varies somewhat, you know. I'm thankfully they all
seem to be doing okay and hopefully they'll be back
to work here real soon.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So and is there just a set time limit on
their leave or is it literally until the investigation determines
what it varies?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It varies. I'm hoping that, like I said, that they'll
be back relatively soon, but that again, it's not something
we want to rush in terms of I mean, we
will work some overtime and we'll cover this stuff here.
We want to make sure we get this right, both
for their sake and for the city.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Sure. I guess what I'm getting at is who makes
that decision or is it varies.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Based on the incident in question? Right now, the investigation
has been turned over to OHIOBCI, so that that's kind
of their call here as far as when they're going
to close this out.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Gotcha from there, So it'll kind of be their call
is when they'll be able to return. So all right, well,
you know, the I guess the silver lining of that
incident is nobody was killed at least as far as we.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Know, thankfully.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, so hopefully that can get back to work as
quickly as possible. But that's the thing we don't always
think about when all right, an officer's on amit straight
of leave you. If it's one, it's an inconvenience, But
if it's seven, that's quite an adjustment, right.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It is, you know, And I I don't know if
people have thought about this way. You know, there has
been a police procedural, one form or another on television
since the creation of television. Oh yeah, and if you
think about every season there is, but now some of
them have been more comedies, you know, like Barney Miller
or Brooklyn ninety nine, or been very serious like you know,
(04:29):
homicide or the Wire. So we as Americans, I think,
have a very ingrained idea of what a police first
of all, use of force encounter should look like. What
a you know, the timeline for a crime to be
solved out to be an hour, And I know I
don't even take that lightly here, but we do have
a very very strong opinion. I do too, even having
(04:50):
done this for twenty seven years. You look at things
and you have questions. These things in the real world,
I mean, they just take time, I mean, and it's unfortunate.
But I know that DCI is working on this as
hard as they can, getting all the facts in there
and making sure they have everything documented completely and then
and then we'll see where things fall from there then.
But so the only thing I had to ask is
(05:11):
just when you see things like this, just try to
wait to pass, you know, too much of a judgment
call on this until everything's kind of all the facts
are in.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah, and of course you think about the time that passes,
but you also it reminds us all that, you know,
what apparently in this was just a relatively normal traffic
stop for seemingly nothing turns into a major incident where
there's what dozens of shots fires.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
You know, And and that's the thing with this line
of work, and it's you never know what's going to happen.
I have seen some really crazy things over the years
that I didn't think I'd ever see, and some of
them were thankfully, very funny, and some of them were
very tragic. And that's again part of the reason why
(05:58):
police are so caught and as much as they can
be in this line of work, because you know, if
something like this is going to cur if somebody has
a mind to do a police officer harm, they can
do it. But like I said, again, without getting too
much details or anything, I could not be prouder of
the way they conducted themselves. They were professional, They did
(06:19):
what they should have. Officer Metz thankfully is recovering from
his wounds and he seems to be doing doing great
and we're hoping to have him back here real soon
as well as well as the other six officers that
are on leave.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Awesome. We're talking with Major Ron Holman, Line of a
police department. With that out of the way, uh, the
focus of course. Chief Hile was just installed as chief
here what a month or two ago, and he's taken
a fairly aggressive tack on trying to cut into well
all crime, I guess, but specifically you know, making Lima
(06:56):
safe and some parameters that he has set up. A
pro active is sort of the buzzword here.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Professional and proactive would be the two words I think
that he won't st emphasize on this. We are going
to be very proactive in our law enforcement efforts because
specifically we want to drop violent crime and in crimes
against property as well. He's made it real clear that
he wants Linema to be ranked in the top ten
safest cities in Ohio and that's something we're going to
(07:25):
push for. And that's the overall goal of everything we're doing.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
And when you say proactive, I mean, I know what
proactive means. Well, what are some detailed things that would
be proactive policing that you guys are going to maybe
take up here?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
I we you know, we've never had a better time
where we share information between investigative services and patrol where
you know, identifying you know, in any city line included.
There are a group of individuals who cause the vast
majority of the violent crime that goes on. And when
we share information and we and we identify the people
that are doing this, then then we can take more
(08:02):
appropriate action. And because if you didn't, if you deal
with those problem people that are out there inflicting harm
on others, then the city becomes safer overall.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
So you were saying that that could allow you to
concentrate to patrols or manpower in certain areas that geographically
or with the you know people and sometimes groups of
people that you know are doing this.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Sure and you know, and then you know, you concentrate
on the serious crimes. I mean obviously gun crimes and
homicides and shootings, but we also look at quality of
life issues there with loud noise. You know, music out
of cars typically dies down, you know, over the colder months,
but when summertime and spring comes back around. That's one
of the biggest complaints we get with neighbors is that
a lot of music, and that's something that we try
to take enforcement action with as well.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Now, the proactive approach, especially if it's not been done
for a while or if it's going to be you're
going to interact more with the public then, and maybe
not the preferred way at times right for the public.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
What we've tried to do from the patrol standpoint is
the officers are working as much as we can. They
work the same beat every day, so every day they work,
so they're actually out there and they're having contact with
a lot of the same people. So two things from that.
Number One, they get to know the problem people in
their neighborhood and the problem houses and that kind of thing,
(09:21):
but also the people that are around there that aren't
a problem get to know the officer and he gets
to know them or her, him or her, and that
kind of familiarity leads to more comfortable sharing of information,
more comfortable to call the police if they know who
have an idea, who they're probably going to deal with.
It just makes things better for everybody. So I guess
(09:46):
that hopefully will stem some of the negative interactions that
we may or may not have if you know the
officer that you're dealing with as opposed to somebody. And again,
as much as we can with that, I mean we're
a fairly young department right now. We're always hiring, but
we always had turnover, so as much as we can,
we try to keep the same faces out there.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Well, I guess hopefully all that will be very positive
and that goal can be reached that you were talking
about in the city of Limo with the being in
the top ten. And I guess some of your guys
will be there Friday for Flip the Switch, right, Yeah,
a fair event. Yeah, big crowd downtown, and we appreciate
all your efforts, Major Holman, and we hope you can
(10:26):
get those officers back quickly.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And real quick. Todd, I just I want to thank
I can't name everybody, but we've had so many, you know,
phone calls and people will offering to bring up food
and stuff, and I really I know Lima is a
great city and they love the LPD. I mean we've
you know, we have issues one way or another, different
things come up, but when something really bad like this,
they really showed how much they care about us and
(10:49):
how much we care about them. So thank you very much,
lave community.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Thank you all right, thank you. That's Major Ron Holman.
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