On May 24, 1974 approximately fifteen families residing in Clearcreek Township, Warren County, attended a meeting of the Clearcreek Township Board of Trustees to discuss the possibility of organizing a local police department. This was in part due to there having occurred a rash of burglaries in their neighborhoods, and the response time of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office was, in their opinion,
too long. They felt that the unincorporated Township was insufficiently protected. A special public meeting was held July 16, 1974 at the Clearcreek Elementary School. After lengthy discussion, the Board of Trustees requested a ‘show of hands’ for support of a tax levy to support a police department. With a large majority in favor, the Board of Trustees decided to act on this in the future, which eventually led to their approval of a resolution on July 18, 1975 to create a Clearcreek Township Police District. On August 1, 1975 they accepted applications for Chief of Police and Police Officers, and agreed to advertise for a police vehicle. Duckro was appointed the first Chief of Police for Clearcreek Township. However, in February 1976 Chief Duckro tendered his resignation. During the next few months Sergeant William Johnson acted as Chief of Operations. These first years were difficult in that Police Officers routinely were hired and soon resigned to work elsewhere in the police service. On July 2, 1976 James Everett Manning, who had been Assistant Chief of the Springboro Police Department, became the second Chief of Police for the Clearcreek Township Police Department. He assumed the task of getting an operating tax levy passed by the voters. Chief Manning hired several Police Officers via funding from the federal Concentrated Education and Training Act (CETA Program). He remained Chief until January 1987 at which time he retired. On January 2, 1987 Charles Robert Dimmitt, from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, became the third Chief of Police. The original tax levy had failed to gain voter approval. In late 1987, the Township’s financial situation forced the decision to abolish the police dispatching section. An annual contract for dispatching was effected in February 1988 with the City of Springboro’s Communications Center. In August 1988 the Board of Trustees passed a resolution for another police tax levy. It twice failed voter approval before being passed in 1989. During this period, at times the Clearcreek Township Police Department consisted only of Chief Dimmitt and Sergeant Jerry L. Thomes who both worked many hours, being relieved only when part-time officers were available. However, soon after passage of the tax levy the police department was able to fill vacant positions, create a rank of Lieutenant, purchase needed equipment, and expand the vehicle fleet to eight automobiles. In 1992, our Police Officers were appointed as Constables, which carries the authority of a Deputy Sheriff within Warren County. Chief Dimmitt was primarily responsible for the Clearcreek Township Police Department being nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies in 1996, being at that time the smallest police department in the nation to achieve CALEA accreditation. After ten years as Chief of Police and serving the residence of Clearcreek Township, Chief Robert Dimmitt retired in March 1997. The Board of Trustees named Lieutenant Stephen C. Boster as Acting Chief of Police until a new Chief could be appointed. On January 18, 1998, Walter F. McAlpin, Jr., a retired Assistant Chief for the Cincinnati Police Division, was appointed by the Board of Trustees as Chief of Police for the Clearcreek Township Police Department. In November 1998 the public narrowly voted to reject a police tax levy that would have provided additional monies for organizational needs and expansion. Officers struggled with feelings of being rejected by the community they served with utmost dedication. In May of 1998, Sergeant Jerold L. Thomes passed away following surgery. In June 1999, Chief Walter F. resigned as Chief of Police, citing personal reasons, and secured a position in the private sector. The Board of Trustees named Lieutenant Boster Acting Chief of Police. Stephen C. Boster submitted his letter of resignation to the Board of Trustees. Lt. Boster accepted the position of Director of the Law Enforcement Program at the Warren County Career Center. In April 1999, Police Officer Anthony A. Scott was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. Being the sole remaining employee holding a supervisory position, he was appointed to the position of Acting Chief of Operations after the departure of Lieutenant Boster. In September Chief of Operations Anthony A. Scott resigned citing personal reasons. In addition to the absence of Supervisory and Command level staff, the Police Department further declined in personnel because of officers being injured and accepting positions with other police agencies. The Board of Trustees decided to place a single issue on the August 3 ballot. The Board faced a so-called doomsday situation for the police department. If the scaled down levy was not approved by voters a second time, the decision to cease police operations or contract with an outside agency had to be seriously considered. The unfortunate outcome: voters failed to approve this second police tax levy. After its defeat, the Board of Trustees and Clearcreek Township Administration – knowing the need for stable leadership – on September 23, 1999 contracted with Peter J. Herdt to serve as Interim Chief of Police for six months at which time a permanent Chief would be appointed. Chief Herdt had prior experience as Police Chief at four other police agencies. And as a last chance effort, the Trustees placed the police levy on the November ballot. Fortunately, the voters returned to the polls and approved a third levy, albeit scaled down. This certainly proved to be a pronounced boost to the overall morale of police department personnel. In December 1999, following a comprehensive promotional process, Police Officers Jeffrey L. Piper and William E. Fritz were promoted to the rank of Sergeant to assume some leadership responsibilities. Three part-time Police Officers were chosen to be career full-time Police Officers. By February, all full-time positions were filled except for Lieutenant, remaining vacant until after a permanent Police Chief was appointed. Chief Herdt’s contract was scheduled to expire March 23, 2000 but since the selection process for a permanent Chief of Police had not yet concluded, the Board of Trustees extended his Interim Chief of Police position. Then upon conclusion of the comprehensive and challenging selection process, Herdt was chosen to be the ‘permanent’ Chief of Police, appointed on May 4, 2000. The vacant Lieutenant position was filled in December 2000 after completion of a rigorous selection process by the appointment of Mark J. Duvelius, a Sergeant and 23-year Warren County Sheriff’s Office veteran. Throughout years 2000 – 2002, the Clearcreek Township Police Department continued its focus on rebuilding and restructuring to restore and enhance its standard of professionalism, coupled with more emphasis on community oriented policing and problem-solving (COPPS) and specialized in-service training & education for all its personnel. As an example, in October 2002 an additional full-time Police Officer was provided, funded within the confines of the existing tax levies. This brought the number of full-time commissioned officers to twelve, consisting of a Chief, a Lieutenant, two Sergeants, and eight Police Officers. On July 10, 2003 the Board of Trustees released Peter J. Herdt from his duties as Chief of Police. The Board of Trustees named Assistant Administrator / Safety Director Ronald L. Wilhelm as Acting Chief of Police during this transition. On August 25th Lieutenant Mark J. Duvelius resigned to take employment with the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office. The vacancies resulted in an immediate need for additional police officers and supervision. A comprehensive testing and evaluation process was completed to promote one police officer to the rank of Sergeant. Curtis O. Hensley was selected as the new Sergeant and promoted on October 30th, 2003. After a comprehensive selection process, Sergeant Jeffrey L. Piper was promoted to the rank of Chief of Police on July 8, 2004. Chief Piper has been a member of the Clearcreek Township Police Department since 1992 and has served in various roles such as; Police Officer, Evidence Technician, and Police Sergeant. In the first half of 2005, processes for a vacancy for one Police Sergeant and three Full-Time Police Officers were begun. At their conclusion, Police Officer Jason L. Bates was promoted to Sergeant. Part-time Officers Angela K. Roberts, Kevin R. McGuire, and Thomas A. Majercak were selected to fill the three vacant Full-Time Police Officer positions. In July of 2007 Chief Jeffery Piper resigned from the position of Chief of Police to begin a teaching career with the Warren County Career Center where he was named Director of Law Enforcement Training. Chief Piper left the department in August 2007 completing 15 years of service with the department. On July 5th, 2007 John D. Terrill was sworn in as the new Chief of Police for Clearcreek Township. Chief Terrill had been involved with Clearcreek Township for many years as the townships Polygraph Operator assisting in the hiring of many of the Police, Fire and administrative personnel. At the time of his appointment Chief Terrill was in the process of completing his 25th year of service with the Middletown Police Department, retiring from there as a Sergeant. Chief Terrill had served previously in Warren County as a police officer with Kings Island Park Police in 1980-81 before going to Middletown PD. Chief Terrill served in various roles with the Middletown Police Department such as; Narcotics, Special Operations, Investigations-Detectives, Polygraph, Evidence Tech., Patrol, Patrol Supervisor, Property room and Warrant Division supervisor and Jail Administrator. During Chief Terrill’s transition to Chief a competitive examination was given for the selection of three Police Sergeants and additional patrol officers. Wallace E. Stacy placed first in the testing process was selected and hired as a Police Sergeant on Oct. 1st, 2007. Sgt. Stacy was employed by Middletown Police at the time of his appointed as a Police Sergeant. Stacy had previously served with King Island Park Police, Middletown Police Dept., Mason Police Dept. and Loveland Police Department. Steven A. Reynolds was also promoted on Oct. 1st, 2007 as Police Sergeant. Reynolds was an internal candidate and had been employed by Clearcreek Township Police since Feb. 2000. Reynolds had previously been employed by the Village of Maineville, United States Air Force and Warren County Dog Wardens office. On April 24th, 2008 the final police sergeant was promoted internally from the active list being Larry B. Cornett. Cornett has been with Clearcreek Township Police since 1999. Cornett had previously served with Clearcreek Township Police as a part time police officer before promoting to fulltime officer in 1999. He had also previously served at Kings Island Security as a part time officer. Five police officers were hired to begin filling 8 vacancies. Dan Morgan, Eric Ney, Kevin Barton (Kevin had previous part time employment with Hamilton Twsp. Police Dept.), John Gleeson (John had previous part time employment with Hamilton Twsp. Police Dept. and was also a Deputy Sheriff in New York State) and Nicole Cordero were hired to fill those vacancies.
