Columbus Police Department Capt. Fred Shelton and about 20 residents talked about a number of things through a more than hour-long meeting on Friday. One thing, more than any other, quickly became clear — some of Columbus’ citizens want to see more community engagement from the police department.
“This is a good setting.” Eric Thomas, who attended the meeting, told Shelton. “But you’re not the one that’s in the street. You’re not the one patrolling. I’m glad you’re here. It’s good that the citizens are coming out and giving you ideas, but it would have been even better to have some of the officers that were here who are out patrolling. You can interact with us, in a way, but you aren’t the one who’s in the street. We don’t know these new officers.”
The meeting, held at the community center in Sims Scott Park, opened with a presentation from Shelton to review basic police duties and their role in interacting with the community. After that, it moved to an open discussion between Shelton and those in attendance. Though specific topics changed as talks went on, the meeting generally focused on finding ways to bridge the disconnect between the CPD and the community.
People asked for more patrols in the area of town around Sims Scott Park — something Shelton insisted should already be happening, while residents claimed otherwise. As the discussion progressed, Shelton went on to say that CPD is undermanned, which makes increasing patrols difficult.
“We are patrolling normally, but where are we patrolling?” he said. “The whole city. Columbus is divided into five geographical beats. We have one officer working that beat. At this present time, we’re short. We’re supposed to have 71 officers working. We have 56. We’re short on people.
“We’re trying every day to hire more people,” he added. “People are not coming up to the standard. However, and I say this with all my heart, we’re not going to lower the standard to get people to be police officers.”
Changing the way they police
Shelton spoke about the recent controversies that have surrounded police departments nationwide, including the recent indictment of University of Cincinnati officer Ray Tensing in the shooting death of Samuel DuBose.
He acknowledged that cameras and video footage of encounters between the police and their communities are causing departments to reevaluate their methods and change — hopefully for the better.
“Back in the day when I first started in the police department, it was kick butt and take names,” he said. “We don’t kick butts and take names any more. It’s changing. The police culture is changing. Video is changing the way we do things.”
Continuing the dialogue
The meeting wasn’t the first of its sort, and from indications Friday, it won’t be the last. After it finished, Thomas said the conversation was a good beginning, but everyone — citizens and police — will have to take a next step to foster communication and improve the relationship.
“This is a great start. You have to take steps and this is the first step to bridging the gap. I think it’s a great idea and I think there were some positive things tonight. A plan is just a plan until it’s put in action–we have to take what we have here and put it into action.”
Shelton said he enjoyed the exchanges, and hoped they will ultimately lay the groundwork so that if a crisis arises in the future, citizens know how to work with the CPD and vice versa.
“What I’m hoping for is that with a series of these meetings, we can have this dialogue, it won’t be the first time we’ve talked about police-involved shooting or how the police and community work together,” he said. “That’s the whole point of this dialogue — to see their concerns. And if we’re not delivering the product they need, we need to go back and change some things.”
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