His chiefs have steadfastly defended him over the years.
All the citizen complaints, his use of force, fighting bad guys who resist arrest — it all comes, they have said, with Officer Donald Schismenos being an aggressive street-gang cop in Akron.
Internal police documents, however, do not appear to support the contentions of the Akron chiefs, past and present.
In fact, no street-gang officer working alongside Schismenos comes close to generating the number of citizen complaints, or resorting to force to corral a resisting suspect, according to documents released by the city's law department.
Schismenos is facing a 45-day suspension for disobeying a sergeant and arresting a woman who refused to surrender the video she shot of him making an arrest.
He also is to begin light-duty desk work Monday, a temporary assignment that takes him off the city's gang unit and his off-duty jobs.
This is the first time Schismenos, a 17-year veteran, has ever been disci
plined.
Six years ago, Akron police Chief Michael Matulavich was asked about the escalating number of complaints against Schismenos.
Matulavich, a stern, sometimes gruff, old-school cop, defended the officer's record, describing Schismenos as ''committed and conscientious.'' Those traits, according to the now-retired chief, naturally generated complaints.
''He's always poking sticks at the bears. That's why we send him out there,'' Matulavich said in a 2004 interview.
'Nature of the job'
Fast-forward six years. Current police Chief Gus Hall found himself in a position of explaining more complaints against Schismenos.
In a recent interview, Hall basically reiterated what Matulavich said years ago.
''He works the gang unit, where you're not dealing for the most part with ordinary citizens,'' Hall said. ''It's just the nature of the job and with the groups of people he's dealing with, you will have more use of force, resisting arrests than officers just handling routine traffic stops.''
There are six officers assigned to the department's gang unit. On a daily basis, they work the tougher neighborhoods of Akron, trying to trump the gangbangers.
Over the years, Schismenos has emerged as the face of the unit. He is often invited to speak to neighborhood watch clubs and civic groups about the perils of gangs inside Akron's borders.
He also is regarded as an expert in gang affiliation identification, and county prosecutors have used his testimony to win longer prison terms for defendants accused of gang activity.
In turn, his personnel file is filled with letters of thanks and commendations for his gang work.
Schismenos, however, leads the gang unit with 71 instances of use of force and suspects who resist arrest since 1997. The next closest gang unit officer has 35 such reports.
As for citizen complaints, Schismenos has 32 over his career, three times as many as the next gang officer, who has 10.
Messages and e-mails to Schismenos seeking comment have not been returned for several weeks.
But in a 2004 interview with the Beacon Journal, he attributed the complaints and use of force to his gang-unit work.
''I'm an aggressive officer that is proactive,'' Schismenos told a reporter. ''Our unit is one of the only units that are proactive. We don't just react to reports coming in. We go out and try to get criminals off the streets before they commit more crimes.''
Officers are required to document instances in which they must use physical force or suspects resist arrest.
Union defends record
Paul Hlynsky, the department's union president, defended Schismenos' record. He said the officer's expertise on gangs has made him a highly sought source for other units in the police department, placing Schismenos in the thick of homicide, drug and other investigations.
Hlynsky said this interaction leads to more contact with gang members than other officers in the unit have. This potentially adds to the number of complaints against Schismenos.
In addition, Schismenos has taken off-duty jobs in tough, public-housing neighborhoods and at nightclubs notorious for attracting rougher crowds, Hlynsky said.
As a result, he said, Schismenos' record is being unfairly attacked by city officials, particularly Police Auditor Phil Young and Mayor Don Plusquellic, who last week tripled Schismenos' original unpaid suspension from 15 days to 45.
The suspension has yet to take effect. Schismenos is expected to appeal the mayor's decision to an arbitrator, a process that could take several months.
''I think Don's stuff has been grossly exaggerated by the mayor and the supposed independent auditor,'' Hlynsky said. ''He's already been tried and convicted in the press.
''Here, Schismenos is being made to defend himself and these gang members continue to run amok in the city.''
Under review
Early in his career, when Schismenos was piling up complaints and use-of-force reports, his supervisors counseled him to practice defusing, rather than escalating, his confrontations with citizens.
At the time, he had 47 citizen complaints and use-of-force reports in his first three years of duty. The numbers have since grown to about 118.
In an interview last week, Hall said the department is reviewing Schismenos' record. He has been temporarily taken off the gang unit and is prohibited from working his off-duty jobs until a ''fit for duty'' evaluation is conducted. The evaluation gauges an officer's mental and physical health.
Hall said the department will also study Schismenos' record against other gang unit officers.
''Those are some issues that we need to look into,'' he said. ''It's one of the reasons we requested a 'fit for duty' evaluation.''
Young, the city's police auditor, said the department's defense of Schismenos over the years has done a disservice to the city. When told of the numbers by the Beacon Journal, he said statistics should back up the comments of the chiefs who have defended Schismenos in the past, ''but it's not even close.''
''[The chiefs] make those statements because they are easy to say and I think it steers our citizens in the wrong direction,'' Young said. ''[They say] that this guy is out there hammering people and getting criminals off the streets and that's why he's getting the complaints and most of the complaints and use of force involve bad people. I think that's very misleading.''
Tenure appears to have no bearing on Schismenos' numbers.
Sgt. Michael Zimmerman, Officer Rod Criss and Schismenos have each worked with the unit for at least 10 years.
Criss and Schismenos have been officers for about 17 years. Zimmerman has been with the force since 1977.
But while Schismenos has generated the most citizen complaints among gang officers, Criss and Zimmerman have garnered 13 complaints combined. Zimmerman has no use of force or resisting arrests reports; Criss has 28.
Zimmerman, who supervises the unit, did not return a phone message or an e-mail seeking comment.
Growing scrutiny
Schismenos' record is under growing scrutiny since his confrontation last summer with an Akron woman who videotaped his arrest of a disorderly suspect. Sarah Watkins, 48, refused Schismenos' request for her camera and a sergeant eventually intervened and ordered the officer to ''let it go.''
Schismenos, however, filed felony charges against Watkins, which led to her arrest. She spent parts of two days in jail before making bond. The charges were eventually dismissed.
An internal investigation ended with a recommendation that Schismenos receive a 15-day, unpaid suspension.
Schismenos contended he did not hear a sergeant's order to drop his demands for the camera and he appealed the suspension to Mayor Don Plusquellic, hoping to see the penalty lessened.
Instead, the mayor criticized Schismenos' arrest of Watkins as a ''personal vendetta'' and tripled the suspension. He also ordered Schismenos to undergo a psychological evaluation that could determine whether the officer stays in the gang unit.
''Where has the accountability been for all these years?'' Young asked. ''Where is it? What are we doing here? Are we just making statements about being a gang officer and that this is the way it is? These are questions that need answers.''
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