On July 31, 2007, Colin Kennedy came
to the Erlanger Police Department with the
intention of filing a complaint about the
actions of what he believed to be an
Erlanger Police Officer. Kennedy told
Sgt. Troy Vines that the "officer" apparently was
mad that Kennedy cut him off on Dixie
Highway. After a short encounter of
"road rage" between the two,
Kennedy said he pulled into the lot of the
Silver Lake Krogers. There, Kennedy
reported that the "officer"
displayed a badge, stated that he was with
the Erlanger Police Department and
threatened to "write him a ticket...
for every time (Kennedy) cut (him) off"
before ordering Kennedy to park his car.
Inside Kroger's Kennedy confronted the
"officer" and asked him for his
name and badge number so Kennedy could file
a complaint. Kennedy said the
"officer" then threatened him
with arrest and said he was going to
"go up to the station a file a
report." The
"officer" then hurried out of the
store and quickly left the parking lot.
Kennedy's description of the
"officer" did not match any
employee of the Erlanger Police Department
so Sgt. Vines responded to Kroger's to
view the footage of the events on store
security videos. Vines quickly
recognize the "officer" to
actually be former Kenton County Constable
Ronald Ferrier. After losing his bid
for re-election twice in 2006 (once in a
Republican primary, and once as an
Independent write-in candidate), Ferrier
resigned from office in December of 2006
and no longer held police powers.
Ferrier was well known to several Kenton
County police agencies due to complaints
received from Ferrier's behavior while
acting as Constable.
The case was assigned to Lt. Kevin Gilpin
and Det. Jeff Miles for additional
investigation. Gilpin and Miles
conducted a search warrant of Ferrier's
car, a Mercury Grand Marquis which closely
resembles the Ford Crown Victoria commonly
used by police agencies. In the car,
investigators located emergency blue
lights hidden in the grill, a police
scanner, a badge, a police baton, and a
handgun among other things.
Investigators also searched Ferrier's home
where they located additional badges and
business cards from the Sheriff's
Department and Dept. of Homeland
Security, neither of which employed or
authorized Ferrier to have those items.
Gilpin and Miles also located a handful of
people who stated that Ferrier had
identified himself as a police officer
and/or displayed a badge, months after he
was no longer the Constable.
In September, 2007, Ferrier was indicted
for Impersonating a Police Officer.
On 2/5/08, Ferrier entered a guilty plea
as charged. He had been scheduled to
stand trial on 2/12/08.
Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders
recommended that Ferrier be sentenced to 5
years probated for 5 years. On
3/11/08, Ferrier was sentenced to 3 years
probated for 3 years.
Sanders said that his #1 priority was to
make certain that Ferrier never legally
owned a firearm again. "It's
obvious that the Defendant has some
twisted fascination with being a police
officer," said Sanders. "I
hope the possibility of going to prison
motivates Mr. Ferrier to address his
mental issues because if he ever pretends
to be a police officer again, he'll be
looking at a significant prison
sentence."
