John Gocala Sr., Chief (retired), Commander, Instructor – Youngstown State University Police
As a veteran police chief and educator, John Gocala knows what qualities make for a successful cop.
“We need good, educated law enforcement officers,” he once told a reporter, “but the most important ingredients we’re looking for are common sense, integrity and a strong work ethic.”
Gocala’s lengthy and distinguished career in the Youngstown region was built on those very pillars, and by example he imparted the importance of such attributes to the countless students, co-workers and law enforcement colleagues he came to know over the years.
In 2022, in recognition of Gocala’s 50+ years of law enforcement service, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 200 worked with the Youngstown State University Foundation to establish an annual scholarship in his name, recognizing a member of the university community who goes “above and beyond to serve the traditions of YSU.”
In announcing the scholarship, the FOP lodge declared: “There is no one in law enforcement in the region who does not know or has not been influenced by him.”
Gocala served as chief of the YSU Police Department from October 1990 to January 2012, a tenure highlighted by numerous campus crime-prevention initiatives, an achievement he reflects on with great pride. During that time, he also developed mutual-aid agreements with the city police department and the sheriff’s departments in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
“The relationship that exists at YSU between the university police and the administration, faculty, staff and students is a unique relationship,” then-President Cynthia E. Anderson said when Gocala stepped down. “Not every university can boast of such a positive relationship.”
Gocala has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice/law enforcement administration from YSU and has been an educator most of his career.
In the late 1970s, he began teaching for the Ohio Police Officer Training Academy and at various locations throughout the Youngstown region, including Eastern Gateway Community College in Steubenville, where he has been an instructor for 40 years.
He has taught at the YSU Police Academy since its inception in 2000 and continued in that role after retiring as chief. Thanks to his work and that of his colleagues, the YSU Police Academy was designated by Attorney General Yost as a STAR Academy in 2022.
Throughout his career, Gocala has emphasized his students’ role as servants of the community, leaving them with the reminder that while it’s important to do things right, it’s more important to do the right thing.
Gocala started his career in 1971 in the vice unit of the Youngstown Police Department, focusing on prostitution and liquor control and eventually on organized crime. (He later shared his experiences as a contributor to the book “Crimetown U.S.A. — The History of the Mahoning Valley Mafia: Organized Crime Activity in Ohio’s Steel Valley 1933-1963” by Allan R. May.)
Gocala was steadily promoted, eventually to lieutenant, but realized that he could never reach his ultimate goal of becoming chief because he lived outside the city boundaries. So he resigned after nearly 20 years to become police chief at Youngstown State.
William Chattman, Eastway Behavioral Health
William Chattman sees a lot as a member of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Crisis Intervention Team. In his ride-alongs with deputies, he routinely deals with residents who are battling drugs, homelessness, suicidal thoughts or other demons.
Through it all — and throughout his 30+ years as a mental health professional — he has lived by a code defined by compassion and empathy.
“It really feels good to be doing something positive,” said Chattman, a senior case manager for Eastway Behavioral Health.
Chattman began to work with the sheriff’s office in 2020 after Sheriff Rob Streck partnered with Eastway to provide resources to residents experiencing mental health crises. The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), created by Streck, was an acknowledgment that jail isn’t the solution in many of the cases his deputies were being asked to respond to.
In his role on the team, Chattman connects people in crisis to treatment services in the community and provides education and support services to families learning how to manage loved ones with mental illness and addiction issues.
Teresa Russell, director of Criminal Justice Outreach for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, said Chattman has been a pioneer in advocating for CIT partnerships across Montgomery County and the state.
He took on the challenge of partnering with law enforcement, she said, “immediately after the George Floyd shooting, which rocked the faith in and perception of law enforcement, specifically among African Americans.”
“His ability to work collaboratively with our deputies helped foster respect for those officers dedicated to public safety and, in return, specifically helped our deputies understand more about our behavioral health system and the resources that are available in our community.”
In the first three months of Chattman’s participation, he assisted deputies with 88 crisis calls. Thirty-five percent were repeat callers with whom he began building rapport and connecting to community services. Many of these individuals would ultimately have gone to jail without his intervention.
So far in 2023, he has aided 95 residents in crisis, placing 29 in treatment programs at behavioral health agencies and continuing to help individuals with severe and persistent mental illness avoid incarceration.
In April, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office received the 2023 CIT Program of the Year Award at the Ohio Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Conference.
Morrow County Sheriff John Hinton
Both as a private citizen and a law enforcement official, John Hinton has always believed in giving back. It’s not something he preaches; it’s just the way he lives his life.
Hinton has been on the board of the United Way of Morrow County since 2019 and served as board president in 2021, a record-breaking year for fundraising. He now sits on several committees responsible for prominent United Way fundraisers, including the Duck Race, Designer Purse Bingo and Radiothon.
Hinton also serves on the board of the Morrow County Food Pantry, part of Morrow County Job and Family Services. In both 2020 and 2021, Morrow County Children Services recognized his volunteer efforts with certificates of appreciation.
Since becoming sheriff in January 2017 (after serving six months as interim sheriff), Hinton has made advocacy for mental health and addiction services a large part of his work.
In 2020, the Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board presented him with the CARES Award from the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities. The award recognizes frontline workers and other leaders who have served Ohioans affected by the opioid crisis and other drug addiction. Hinton collaborated with the recovery services board to launch the Morrow County Sheriff’s App, which provides, among other things, access to mental health and addiction providers in the area.
The sheriff has likewise encouraged members of his office to seek out volunteer opportunities. Collectively, he and his team host several events throughout the year, including Halloweenie, which kicks off trick-or-treat early for the children of the county. They also host several free pancake breakfasts to promote community engagement. Before COVID-19 set in, he organized an annual blood drive among county law enforcement agencies called Battle of the Badges.
In addition, Hinton has been active in the Morrow County Chapter of the Red Cross since 2015 and is a long-standing member of the Knights of Columbus in Cardington, where he helps raise money for county organizations.
A licensed auctioneer, he frequently volunteers his services to raise money for the United Way, Knights of Columbus, and Voice of Hope Pregnancy and Family Center. He also volunteers at the Morrow County Fair livestock auction.
Hinton previously coached high school wrestling at several area schools and officiated at football games around the state.
Officer Shawn Lutz, Columbus Division of Police
Officer Shawn Lutz is a seven-year veteran of the Columbus Division of Police who serves the Linden neighborhood of the city. His duties include acting as a liaison to ensure the police department works efficiently with all of its community partners and stakeholders, both in Linden and in Columbus’ LGBTQ+ community.
In fact, Lutz’s ability to connect with the people he assists sets him apart in the eyes of a wide spectrum of community, police and political leaders Lt. Paul Szabo, who nominated Lutz, says his colleague makes himself available 24/7 to citizens, police officers and recruits, and other city departments. He said Lutz is a resource for marginalized citizens, helping them navigate the criminal justice system and providing answers about filing reports, requesting charges/protection orders and making public-records requests.
Szabo summed it up this way in his nomination letter: “There is no possibility of adequately describing Officer Lutz’s positive impact on the Division, other city departments, the criminal justice system and the citizens he serves.”
Appropriately, Szabo asked others to weigh in. Below is a small sample.
Mayor Andrew Ginther
Officer Lutz invests considerable time, energy and effort into building and maintaining positive, meaningful relationships with each of the communities that he has been called to serve and protect. He has also stepped up to lead in challenging and complicated circumstances, helping to support the establishment of the Division’s first “Dialogue Team,” a unit dedicated to improving the efficacy of police engagement with people exercising their First Amendment rights to speech and peaceful assembly.
Assistant Police Chief Gregory J. Bodker
Throughout the City of Columbus, there has been an extreme rise in the number of children, under the age of 18, stealing cars and using those cars to commit violent crimes. Officer Lutz has worked tirelessly, both in uniform and on his own time, to build bridges with the families of these children, helping them navigate the complicated legal and social system in an effort to steer these children and families toward a better life.
Nicole Banks, Founder and President of The Starfish Assignment
Officer Lutz has consistently gone above and beyond, dedicating his time and effort even on his days off to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community. … His ability to connect with people and make them feel at ease in his presence has not only brought the police and the community closer together but also made a positive difference in people’s lives during these challenging times.
Officer Jerry Orick, Columbus Division of Police
Officer Jerry Orick has devoted much of his career to improving the skills of law enforcement personnel to help them conduct criminal investigations at the highest level.
Orick started with the Columbus Division of Police in 2001 and has been an instructor since 2014. A detective, he is assigned to the Columbus Police/ATF Crime Gun Enforcement Team (CGET).
Throughout his 22-year career, he has worked tirelessly to expand and share his knowledge of the technology and techniques used to investigate firearms violations and to link previously unconnected shootings.
His devotion to training has provided fellow law enforcement personnel with the tools to enhance their criminal investigations to aid in successful prosecutions, and his high level of networking has contributed to law enforcement’s collective efforts to reduce violent crime.
In 2022, Orick trained more than 250 law enforcement personnel from various state, local and federal agencies in multiple areas, including how to mine data from digital media to maximize investigative success, and how to enter evidence into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) and use the NIBIN Enforcement Support System (NESS).
In late 2022 and into this year, Orick was instrumental in the planning and development of central Ohio’s Regional Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC) and significantly contributed to the training and preparation of 100 CGIC investigators.
Orick finds his reward in seeing law enforcement colleagues expand their investigative knowledge to achieve successful prosecutions. Through his selfless dedication to the improvement of his peers, he has made central Ohio a safer place for families to live.
Sgt. Lindsey Alli, Columbus Division of Police
In an era of intense public criticism of law enforcement, persuading men and women to don the shield in service to their communities has become increasingly difficult.
Sgt. Lindsey Alli believes that a key part of the solution involves reaching out to young people to give them an inside look into the day-to-day duties of officers and the integrity with which they do their job.
To that end, Alli has helped build the Columbus Police youth recruiting team, which has two components: the Public Safety Corps and the Cadet Program. Both emphasize the greater good over self-interest.
The Public Safety Corps, formerly the Explorers, is a mentorship program aimed at youths and young adults ages 14 through 20. It offers a mix of classroom and hands-on learning, including ride-alongs and mock scenarios covering crash investigations, crime scene processing, bomb threat response, and arrest and search techniques. The program can serve as a pipeline to cadet training.
The Cadet Program is a three-year paid internship for adults 18 and older. Alli organized it and got it off the ground. Cadets undergo a 16-week training program and are then assigned rotating civilian positions within the Division, including work with therapy dogs, investigative units, the property room, the recruiting unit, and the patrol subdivision.
As part of the training, and to give program participants a taste of what it means to serve others, Alli makes sure that the young men and women have the opportunity to lend a hand in communities they might eventually serve. That might mean helping at a block party or at Rise Up CBUS! events, or just going out in the city and picking up trash.
During Alli’s tenure as the youth recruiting sergeant, 22 cadets have pursued careers with the Columbus Division of Police or with other police or public safety agencies. Numerous Public Safety Corps members have gone onto college, the military, and careers in law enforcement.
Alli has always been an advocate for her community and spends many hours of her free time mentoring youths in and out of her programs. She also is helping to re-establish the Columbus Police Athletic League as another important source of mentoring and support for youths.
Chief Timothy Sopkovich, Brunswick Hills Police Department
While many police chiefs are struggling to fill their rosters, Chief Timothy Sopkovich has a full crew and a long list of officers from other departments interested in joining his team.
There are several reasons for that, according to Sgt. James Sanford, who nominated the chief. For starters, Sopkovich’s strengths combine both vision and humility.
Those qualities find their expression in Sopkovich’s constant efforts to find ways his police department can make life better for Brunswick Hills residents, and the community is thankful for it. One example: The most recent police levy, in May 2021, was supported by 75% of voters.
But probably more to the point, Sopkovich believes in community engagement and the need for a close working relationship with the resident
“Everything Tim does has the welfare of the community first,” Sanford said.
Sopkovich, who became chief in 2015, started a food pantry so residents could drop off donations to help their neighbors in need.
At Christmas and Easter, he hosts breakfasts and other family events. These have become so popular that tickets became necessary to manage the number of residents wishing to attend. The money raised by ticket sales is used to assist families in need throughout the year.
In summertime, the department runs a program called Good Citation, which Sopkovich started. When patrol officers see a child wearing a bike helmet, following safety rules or doing something nice for someone, they issue a “good citation” to the child, who can then go to the police department with a parent and pick a toy from a treasure chest.
Within the department itself, Sopkovich is focused on commonsense improvements that increase efficiency and strengthen morale. He was the first law enforcement administrator in Medina County to use Lexipol for its policy and training manuals, for example, and has revised the recruitment policy to streamline the way officer background checks and interviews are conducted.
Both with the community and his department, Sopkovich has nurtured a culture of trust, collaboration and goodwill. According to Sanford, his chief has created a blueprint that all other law enforcement agencies could learn from.
Officer Tim Goins, Miami Township Police Department
About 5 p.m. on May 20, 2022, Officer Tim Goins and fellow law enforcement officers were crouched behind their vehicles in an apartment complex parking lot as a shirtless woman firing a pistol strode toward them, ignoring officers’ shouts to drop her gun.
About 20 minutes earlier, Goins had been called to the complex on State Route 28 in Milford to check on the woman, after a neighbor phoned police about her erratic behavior. When she refused assistance, however, Goins and two colleagues who responded with him left the scene.
Not long after, according to witnesses, the woman came outside and fired multiple rounds indiscriminately in the parking lot as adults and children fled for safety.
Goins and Officer Rob Bunnell returned to the scene after a second call to 911. When they got out of their vehicles, the woman fired at them. The bullet streaked between their cruisers, crossed Rt. 28 during rush hour, and crashed through the front window of an occupied business.
The officers took cover, grabbed their rifles from their vehicles, and demanded that the woman drop her weapon. Instead, she moved toward them, then dropped down into a shooter’s stance and fired.
Goins remembers the woman pointing the gun directly at him and thinking that he was about to get shot. He emerged from his cover and delivered six rounds with his AR-15, killing the woman and preventing the loss of innocent lives.
Following an investigation by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve concluded that Goins’ actions and those of other Miami Township police officers “were not only reasonable and appropriate, but were absolutely necessary to protect their lives and to ensure the safety of the public.”
Miami Township Police Chief Mike Mills praised Goins’ judgment and bravery, noting that the shooter clearly had no intention of surrendering and would have continued firing until she was out of ammunition. Goins’ actions, he said, “undoubtedly saved lives.”
Sgt. Eric Kocheran, Ross County Sheriff’s Office
Sgt. Eric Kocheran was wrapping up paperwork at the end of his shift on Nov. 17, 2022, when, just after 5 p.m., he heard a knock at the back window of the Ross County Sheriff’s Office.
Kocheran went to the door and was met by 42-year-old man, who asked him to go get more officers.
The sergeant’s body camera and the subsequent investigation by BCI would show that Kocheran asked the man why more officers were needed, and that the man said somebody was going to hurt his family and wanted him to hurt kids. The man then said he couldn’t do that, so “I have to do this” — pulling out a gun.
Kocheran told the man multiple times to put down his weapon, drawing his own gun as he did so.
The man fired, with the bullet bruising Kocheran’s heart, piercing his left lung and stopping in his liver. Somehow, miraculously, Kocheran was able to return fire, killing the gunman and ending a potential threat to Chillicothe residents.
The sergeant was flown to Grant Medical Center in Columbus, where he underwent multiple surgeries and spent two of the nearly four weeks he was hospitalized in a medically induced coma.
Kocheran is unlikely to ever return to duty.
Sheriff George W. Lavender Jr., who nominated Kocheran, said the gunman “was intent on killing someone that day.” And even though his sergeant “did everything possible to avoid taking a life,” he said, “in the end, by taking a life, he possibly saved countless others.”