Editing Arlington Heights, Ohio (section)

==Government==
[[File:Arlington Heights village hall.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Village Hall]]

The current mayor of Arlington Heights is Steven Crase.<ref>[http://www.arlingtonheightsohio.org/departments/departments.htm Elected officials], Village of Arlington Heights website.</ref>

In 2011, Arlington Heights issued 4,037 traffic tickets.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120818/NEWS010702/308180094/Small-towns-buck-trend-traffic-tickets
|title=Small towns buck trend on traffic tickets
|newspaper=[[The Cincinnati Enquirer]]
|author=Horn, Dan
|author2=Perry, Kimball
|date=August 18, 2012
|access-date=August 23, 2012
}}</ref> Arlington Heights uses a [[Ohio Mayor's Courts|Mayor's Court]], whereby the mayor or his designate presides over traffic ticket cases. Arlington Heights' mayor's court had 5.91<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/07/22/big-business.html
|title=Ohio's mayor's courts, big business
|newspaper=[[Columbus Dispatch]]
|author=Conley, Justin
|author2=McKinsey, Rebecca
|date=July 22, 2012
|access-date=August 23, 2012
}}</ref> cases per capita, (third highest in Ohio) compared to the state average of 0.2.<ref>[http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/17/1798.asp Ohio Considers Banning Local Courts Run by Mayors] Thenewspaper.com June 9, 2007. Retrieved August 22, 2012.</ref>

===Theft indictment===
In July 2012 two former Arlington Heights employees, Donna Covert and her daughter Laura Jarvis, were indicted by a [[Hamilton County, Ohio|Hamilton County]] [[grand jury]] on charges relating to the theft of roughly $260,000 from village coffers from 2007 to 2010. The charges were the result of a two-year investigation by the [[Ohio Attorney General]] and the [[Ohio State Auditor]] after Robert Lawson, the Arlington Heights police chief, reported his concerns in January 2010.<ref>[http://www.hcpros.org/press-room/2012/hamilton-county-prosecutor-joseph-t-deters-announces-indictment-arlington-heights-mo Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters announces indictment in Arlington Heights mother and daughter theft case], Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office press release, July 31, 2012.</ref><ref>Sewell, Dan. [https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/accused-stealing-260k-ohio-village-16897375#.UBzWVqBR3SM 2 Accused of Stealing $260K From Ohio Village], ABC news website, July 31, 2012.</ref>

Although the grand jury indictment covers only the 2007 to 2010 time span, some former officials including a former council member Roland M. Heyne Jr. who successfully sued the village for civil rights violations, contend that cash payments of fines had been systematically stolen as long as 10 years prior. Mark Groteke, a former Arlington Heights police chief, stated, "They were stealing money. We knew it — there was discussion among the police officers — we knew that they were stealing money." In a September 2002 letter to Mayor Joseph Harper, which copied Steve Surber (then the village treasurer), Groteke discussed "... the possibility that citations may have been improperly handled", and recommended "... an outside independent agency should do a complete audit of all tickets written for at least the last 12 months."<ref>[http://media2.wcpo.com/pdfs/2002LettertoMayor.pdf September 2002 letter from Police Chief to Mayor], [[WCPO-TV|WCPO]] website.</ref> Despite the warning, no action was taken by village officials. Seeing this, the police chief requested an investigation from the [[Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation|Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation]]. According to Groteke, the investigation was not launched because approval from either the mayor or the treasurer was required, and each refused to endorse an investigation.<ref name="knew">Keefe, Brendan. [http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/i-team-arlington-heights-knew-its-employees-were-pocketing-speeding-fines I-Team: Arlington Heights knew some employees were pocketing speeding fines], [[WCPO-TV|WCPO]] website, July 9, 2012.</ref>

In 2007, the new police chief, Robert Lawson, also voiced concerns about the handling of money within the village. He sent an email to Surber (still the village treasurer), saying "Just a quick review of the MUTT book, your numbers don't add up..."<ref>[http://media2.wcpo.com/pdfs/2007lettertoSurber2.pdf September 2007 email from Police Chief to Treasurer], [[WCPO-TV|WCPO]] website.</ref> (MUTT stands for "Multi-count Uniform Traffic Ticket".) Again, no investigation followed.<ref name="knew"/>

When asked about the prior letters, Surber said his position as clerk treasurer did not give him the power to call for an investigation.<ref name="knew"/>

In 2012, Hamilton County prosecutor [[Joe Deters]] called for the village to be shut down. He said, "The Village Council needs to seriously consider dissolving the Village of Arlington Heights. The Village seems to be nothing more than a speed trap with no checks and balances… Consolidating with another political subdivision is long overdue."<ref name="deters">{{cite news|url=http://www.cincinnati.com/article/20120731/NEWS/307310032 |title= Prosecutor: Arlington Heights should consider shut down |date=July 31, 2012 |newspaper= Cincinnati.com|access-date=January 4, 2016}}</ref>

On January 1, 2016, the Village's police department was disbanded and the [[Hamilton County (Ohio) Sheriff’s Office|Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office]] took over law enforcement functions. In 2018 The Hamilton County Sheriff’s office stopped patrolling the village. Arlington Heights is now patrolled by The City Of Reading Police Department.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Zoukis|first1=Christopher|title=Local Police Department Disbanded in Wake of Speed Trap Embezzlement Scheme|url=https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/mar/9/local-police-department-disbanded-wake-speed-trap-embezzlement-scheme/|access-date=March 30, 2017|publisher=Prison Legal News|date=March 9, 2017}}</ref>