Columbus Police Department issues dominated Tuesday night’s city council meeting, which ended with three patrol officers appearing before the council in executive session for apparent violations of the department’s body camera policy.
Both CPD Chief Fred Shelton and the officers’ attorney, Francis Springer of Jackson, confirmed the officers had violated the body camera policy, though they did not give further details. Shelton said the officers’ penalty “followed (CPD’s) policy.”
Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong and a council member told The Dispatch each officer received a 10-day suspension without pay with “seven days suspended,” meaning they will only be out three days without pay.
Per CPD policy, officers are required to turn their body cameras on any time they interact with a civilian while on duty. In 2016, the council changed the penalty for violating the policy from three days suspension without pay to 10 days for the first infraction, 30 days suspension or termination for the second violation and termination for a third violation.
Springer told The Dispatch after the meeting that while he understands the importance of body cameras, he feels that elected officials and others in government positions do not always understand the pressure police officers are under when they respond to calls, and activating their body cameras may not be their first priority.
“Look at it from the officers’ perspective,” he said. “I think that’s one of the hardest things elected officials have to do. … It just needs to be consistent. The officer’s thinking about so many things, from doing their job to staying alive.”
The matter followed a meeting that had already focused primarily on CPD, with Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens questioning Shelton about the strength of the patrol force and even accusing Shelton’s ranking officers and detectives of not responding to concerns from citizens.
Currently there are 54 officers employed by CPD, eight of whom are training or preparing for training at the police academy, Shelton said during the meeting. He specified there are four patrol shifts currently, three shifts of eight officers and one shift of nine. The department has added a special detail of four officers to patrol high-crime areas during the weekend in addition to the shift already on duty.
But that was not enough to quell concerns from Mickens, who said he received multiple phone calls from constituents over the weekend complaining that officers were not responding to shootings and other calls from citizens.
Though Mickens raised several examples — including one instance in which a truck had apparently dropped a tree on Beech Street and blocked off part of the road from traffic “three weeks ago” and which police never addressed despite calls from residents, including Mickens himself — he said he was mainly concerned about the shootings.
“It’s embarrassing to me when a constituent of my ward (is) calling me on Saturday to tell me there’s shooting in our ward and I don’t know nothing about it,” he said.
CPD has received calls and responded to two shootings in recent days, Shelton said. The first occurred on Brown Street Friday night and resulted in two injuries, and police are still searching for a suspect. The second, which occurred Monday night near East Columbus Gym on Lawrence Drive, did not result in any injuries.
Mickens said he and constituents he’d talked to had not received follow-up calls from Shelton and other ranking officers when they called.
“All these shootings going on in the city, something needs to be (done),” Mickens said. “I mean, we got no follow-up and ladies are telling me … they’re calling (Criminal Investigation Division). They say there’s no investigation out there.”
Shelton said officers responded to both those shootings when they received calls, and CID is currently investigating them. However, he said he and other ranking officers sometimes field calls themselves from constituents who don’t call 911 when shootings occur. He told The Dispatch after the meeting that one witness to the shooting on Brown Street, who had a bullet come onto her property, did not get in touch with police until Monday, three days after the shooting.
Shelton said during the meeting he would try to do better about calling back Mickens and other council members and citizens when they contacted them, but told The Dispatch after the meeting that the best thing citizens can do during a shooting or other emergency is call 911.
“I tell people all the time … ‘Look, I appreciate you calling me, but all I’m going to do is do the same thing you’re going to do,'” he said. “I’m going to call 911 and say, ‘who’s working that area?” and say, ‘Send an officer to that area.'”
Mickens told The Dispatch after the meeting that he did not know if the constituents who talked to him had called 911, just that they reached out to ranking officers individually.
“I can’t say who they call. That I can’t say,” he said. “But all I’m saying is, when the incident happens, nobody’s really coming out and investigating the incident. That’s what I’m being told.”
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