Ohio principal blocked cops from investigating bomb threat and has a disdain for law enforcement, police union prez says

The Ohio principal who attempted to bar police officers from entering her school to investigate a bomb threat last month has a history of hostility towards the cops, The Post has learned. Newly released bodycam footage shows Ridgeview Middle School Principal Natalie James and her secretary arguing with two on-duty Columbus cops responding to a student’s hoax bomb threat — after telling them they couldn’t enter the building without the school’s security officer present. The incident, which occurred on March 17, is just the latest dust-up between James and Columbus Division of Police officers, the local police union president told The Post. Brian Steel, President of the Capital City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #9, told The Post in an interview that James has “implicit bias and disdain for law enforcement,” and a history of interfering with police business. “This has been going on for years with this one principal, who has an ongoing pattern of hindering law enforcement,” Steel said, citing “upwards of a dozen” incidents between James and Columbus police officers. Steel says he’s been fielding calls from Ridgeview parents outraged over James’ behavior.James Diorio is the parent of a 6th grade son at Ridgeview Middle School.He called James’ interaction with the cops “shameful,” but wasn’t surprised at what he saw.“She shows no respect to anyone,” Diorio told The Post.

“The principal at that school is pretty much a czar — she makes her own rules, and her opinion is the only one that counts.”Officer Keith Conner, who responded to the March 17 incident at Ridgeview, expressed a similar sentiment after leaving the school that day.“She is absolutely the most uncooperative person that I’ve ever dealt with in a school system,” Conner is heard saying on the bodycam footage.That followed a nearly 10 minute argument with James and the secretary, in which both insisted that school protocol precluded the officers from enteri...