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Covington Police Officer Doug Ullrich
Police leaders tapped Ullrich as one of the department’s LGBTQ+ liaisons in 2023, despite multiple allegations of civil rights violations against him already on file in federal court.
This article first appeared on Queer Kentucky, a GLAAD-nominated nonprofit covering queer news in a deeply red state.
As Northern Kentucky gears up for Pride under a second Trump administration — one already markedly more hostile toward the LGBTQ+ community — one of the people trusted with protecting a marginalized community is under fire for allegedly repeatedly violating civil rights of those he is trusted to protect.
Covington Police Officer Doug Ullrich has been one of the department’s LGBTQ+ liaisons — a rarity in Kentucky police forces — since 2023.
The role is personal to him: He identifies as LGBTQ+, as do several of his close friends and family, he told Queer Kentucky.
But his suitability for the role has been called into question after Ullrich made headlines — again — for being sued in federal court earlier this year, this time for allegedly violating a Black LGBTQ+ man’s civil rights in what started as a standard traffic stop that escalated into a situation where the man’s seatbelt was cut off and he was pulled through a car window.
It isn’t the first time Ullrich has been sued over alleged civil rights violations. Since 2021, he’s been sued five times in federal court — almost always over allegations of excessive use of force and traffic stops gone awry.
The situation comes on top of a career-long pattern of being seen as proactive to the point of being overzealous and insubordinate, at times landing him in trouble with supervisors during his time at the department, per a review of his personnel file.
City and police officials allowed Ullrich to answer most of Queer Kentucky’s questions in his first public statements since the March lawsuit was filed.
Due to department policy, Ullrich wasn’t allowed to answer questions about the pending litigation or his personnel file. And he declined to say whether or not he would step down from the liaison role should the community ask him to.
"The city of Covington's commitment to transparency and inclusivity remains steadfast,” a city spokesperson said. “The LGBTQ+ liaison role, which was the first of its kind in Northern Kentucky, was created in an effort to provide a specific community with a direct connection to the Covington Police Department's administration.
“We have no question regarding Officer Ullrich's ongoing support for the LGBTQ+ community and his willingness to build meaningful relationships with those who would like to partner with him.”
Attorney Jamir Davis, who has sued Ullrich in federal court twice over accusations stemming from traffic stops, including the most recent lawsuit, though, was clear.
“Based on my experience representing clients in cases involving Officer Ullrich,” Davis said, “and considering the allegations, patterns, and conduct we’ve encountered, I do not believe he should be serving in any liaison role — especially one intended to support or advocate for minority communities.”
Ullrich’s nearly 300-page personnel file — examined multiple times by Queer Kentucky — paints a picture of a police officer eager to join law enforcement, proactively studying up on practices around policing and case law, and becoming a de facto leader on his shifts around traffic stops, particularly ones involving drugs.
Now a specialist, he is a Drug Recognition Expert, “constantly sought out by other officers for his exceptional knowledge of controlled substances and impaired driving,” one of the notes in his file said.
He’s been commended by the state for his traffic stop and drug enforcement skills in the past, and he minored in gender and diversity studies when he was at Xavier University, “knowing even then that I wanted to serve the LGBTQ+ community,” he told Queer Kentucky.
But Ullrich’s file is also peppered with concerns from supervisors regarding improper use of force, sloppy police work, insubordination, and telling a police group chat he “violate(s) every policy.”
“I believe Officer Ullrich has become his own worst enemy,” a supervisor wrote in a performance review early in his career.
“He has the skill, desire, motivation, and discipline to do this job better than anyone else, but his lack of patience and attention to detail have overshadowed most of his accomplishments this year,” they wrote.
Another note in his file stated, “Ullrich’s desire to be so proactive sometimes backfires on him,” adding that, “When he rushes through his paperwork and evidence procedures to get to that next call or make that next arrest, it results in incomplete or inaccurate paperwork.”
Several concerns about Ullrich’s policing didn’t make it into his file, one note signaled, with someone saying they’ve “received many complaints about Officer Ullrich’s performance from his fellow officers, records clerks, crime lab personnel, and supervisors from other shifts” but handled them during his shifts.
One note detailing a meeting between Ullrich and a supervisor discussed an arrest where Ullrich charged a suspect with 69 counts of possession of drug paraphernaliafor unused syringe needles. When Ullrich tried to defend himself, the supervisor told him he should be “embarrassed.”
In another instance, Ullrich got in trouble for using his taser on a suspect who was running away from him and posed no clear threat to him — and for how he reacted when a colleague brought it up in a chat room.
“Or I could of tased him… kinda how you voliate policy and tased” the suspect in question, one person wrote in the June 2014 chat thread.
Ullrich responded: “i violate every policy.”
A different person jumped in, warning Ullrich to be careful what he says: “…if u r ever the defendant in a federal case, it could come back to haunt…just my piece of advice, been there, done that, it was not fun.”
A note from a supervisor in Ullrich’s file said, “My most pressing concern is not necessarily the errors that he continues to make, but rather his cavalier attitude toward his continual policy violations,” pointing to the aforementioned chat message.
“I realize that this comment may have been made in jest during what he thought was private conversation, but there is more truth spoken in jest than some are willing to admit,” the supervisor continued. “This truly concerns me.”
Ullrich’s issues at the department-level seemed to slow down as he got older, with one review from around 2021 saying he showed “a constant progression of learning from his mistakes.”
But, the review continued, he “has had a history of issues that have plagued him. It appears these are getting better but they are still popping up on occasion. I would imagine that these issues may be what is keeping Spec. Ullrich from achieving his desire to become (a field training officer).”
Ullrich also got in trouble in 2022 for failing to log evidence properly after he conducted a traffic stop, suspected marijuana use, searched the car, found a suspected THC cartridge, and drove off without realizing he left it on the roof of his cop car.
Police leaders tapped Ullrich as one of the department’s LGBTQ+ liaisons in 2023, despite multiple allegations of civil rights violations against him already on file in federal court.
And they’ve chosen to keep him there over the last two years, even as additional allegations rack up.
Lawsuits represent one side of a situation, and typically public entities don’t comment on pending litigation. However, the city is standing by Ullrich, making an unusual move to call the most recent claims against Ullrich “ridiculous” and publicly critiquing the lawsuit within weeks of it being filed.
Of the five times Ullrich has been sued in federal court since 2021, one case has been dismissed, another is being appealed, and the remaining three are in front of a judge.
A Queer Kentucky review of the lawsuits found a pattern of alleged excessive use of force, often aimed at those in marginalized communities, and traffic stops forced to spiral out of control.
The most recent lawsuit, filed by Davis in March, stems from a Sept. 2024 traffic stop when Ullrich pulled over Damien Conner — a Black man who identifies as LGBTQ+.
Conner initially got pulled over for being on his phone, but according to the lawsuit and body cam footage of the incident, the situation rapidly escalated beyond what should’ve been a rather routine stop.
Ullrich asked Conner if he had a gun, and that situation ultimately, allegedly, ended with Conner having his seatbelt cut off, getting pulled out of his car window by officers, and ending up in handcuffs.
At some point, Ullrich accused Conner of smelling like weed and thus, in his view, necessitating a search of Conner’s car. Conner has said he can’t use marijuana due to his job’s drug policy.
In the lawsuit, Davis accuses Ullrich of having a long history of wrongfully accusing Black people of being drunk and/or smelling like weed as grounds to unlawfully search their vehicle.
He also contends the city and Police Chief Brian Valenti knew of Ullrich’s long history of such conduct “and failed to take any corrective action” and that they’ve allowed officers “to act with impunity and have failed to properly train or supervise their officers in accordance with established policies.”
An initial statement from the city called the lawsuit’s allegations “false and ridiculous.” Davis had sued before, also over Ullrich’s alleged civil rights violations during a traffic stop. He ended up getting sanctioned for how the lawsuit was handled, and his plaintiff got charged for some of the city’s legal fees. (That case is now being appealed.)
A few weeks after the lawsuit’s filing, the City released extra body cam footage of the Conner incident and doubled down on its support of Ullrich, saying it “is committed to defending its officers who engage in lawful actions.”
And there may be more on the way. Davis told the Atlanta Black Star at least five other citizens claim to have had similar situations with Ullrich, and they might be added to Conner’s lawsuit as co-defendants.
Like many marginalized communities, the LGBTQ+ community has — and has had for decades — a fraught relationship with law enforcement.
LGBTQ+ people — particularly those who identify as transgender, nonbinary, and bisexual — often face harsher and more frequent run-ins with police, a 2024 ACLU report found, compared to those who aren’t LGBTQ+. More likely to face police search, more likely to face arrest, more likely to be placed in custody. And they tend to be less willing to call the police for help if needed.
Having a designated LGBTQ+ liaison for a police department is seen as one of the most effective ways to rectify law enforcement’s ties to the queer community, a former federal guide to best practices for creating such a role said. (The federal web page got yanked during Trump’s first 100 days in office.)
It isn’t a new concept. The first liaison role on record was created in 1962 in San Francisco.
Ullrich, who has been a Covington police officer since 2011, told Queer Kentucky he’s been interested in the department’s LGBTQ+ Liaison role since it was created in 2016.
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and as someone with plenty of close friends and family tied to the LGBTQ+ community, Ullrich feels “a strong duty to speak, act, and work with/for our community,” he told Queer Kentucky.
“I have witnessed and experienced discrimination,” Ullrich said. “I know that members of the LGBTQ+ community have historically been underserved by law enforcement.”
The liaison role is a key reason why Covington is able to claim they’re one of the most LGBTQ-friendly cities in Kentucky. When the Human Rights Campaign judges how supportive cities are to queer people, they look at whether or not local law enforcement has a LGBTQ+ liaison or task force.
Ullrich’s responsibilities fluctuate. Sometimes, it looks like attending community events like the recent Mx. Cincinnati PRIDE Pageant and the upcoming NKY Pride Parade and Festival.
Other times, it means helping his colleagues better understand the community and answer questions about the LGBTQ+ population or jumping in to help with reported hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people.
“In this role, I work to build bridges with the community so that they have a friendly, trusted face for those facing victimization, discrimination, or simply seeking clarity about the law,” Ullrich said. “I entered policing to make a difference for my community, and being the LGBTQ+ liaison helps me do just that.”
The 2024 ACLU report on policing the LGBTQ+ community pitched several potential solutions. One such suggestion: “Carefully consider police presence in public LGBTQ+ spaces and events, such as pride parades and festivals.”
Queer Kentucky reached out to Bonnie Meyer, who leads the Northern Kentucky Pride Center, twice to get her reaction to Ullrich’s recent headlines and to see how he is involved with NKY Pride.
Meyer told Queer Kentucky in late March the group typically doesn’t start planning for Pride until after Kentucky’s legislative session ends. She redirected any questions involving Ullrich to the city.
Meyer did not respond to a more recent request for comment regarding Ullrich or broad information regarding security at this year’s events.
But Ullrich told Queer Kentucky he’s excited to work with the NKY Pride board as one of the police department’s LGBTQ+ liaisons to help organize this year’s events, work out logistics for the parade and address safety concerns that may come up.
He also helps during the event, assisting with medical calls, police and safety needs, and even helping out vendors, he said.
NKY Pride events kicked off May 27, with the parade and festival scheduled to start at noon on June 1.
