LIMA, OH (WLIO) - This past weekend, the Lima Chapter of the NAACP held a press conference to call into question the actions of Lima police detective Steve Stechschulte.
Chapter president Ron Fails says that his organization has gotten several complaints concerning Stechschulte and the way he conducts interviews with suspects in cases that the department is handling. Stechschulte says to his knowledge, any complaints that have been lodged with the department have been looked at and taken care of.
"If they are talking about the interview and anything that goes on in an interview room, those things are all suppression issues," says Det. Stechschulte. "And obviously if there was an issue with what I did and the legalities of it, the statement would have been suppressed.
Stechschulte says that defense lawyers have only been able to successfully suppress one of the interviews before a trial he conducted in 17 years as a detective. And that was because the suspect didn't speak English and they were working through an interpreter. But he believes that the NAACP's actions are more personal.
"One of the officers has a child currently, an adult child, that I recently indicted for five counts of aggravated arson for allegedly starting a house on fire with four people in it or it could be motivated from the president of the local chapter that goes way back to my first encounter with him in May of 2003. I am sure there is a little animosity for that as well," adds Stechschulte. "Either way, I would imagine that this is done to try to curb the way that I do things. Not because I am doing anything wrong, more so because it is effective."
Stechschulte says he will continue to do things the exact same way and work just as hard until the day he retires.
