The Columbus Division of Police and Our City Need Prophetic Leadership With Vision

THE COLUMBUS DIVISION OF POLICE AND OUR CITY

NEED PROPHETIC LEADERSHIP WITH VISION

By Rev. Tim Ahrens, DMin

Would you want your son or daughter to serve in the Columbus Police Division?

This is a question I have been asking African American Officers in Columbus for the past 2½ years. I have heard a few say, “yes… with changes.” Most offer a clear “no” or “not the way it is now.” There is palpable pain in these answers from men and women who truly want to “protect and serve” the people of Columbus. They are good men and women. They are good parents. They are also realistic about the troubles they face each day within the Columbus Police Division (CPD).

In her memoir, Walking the Thin Black Line: Confronting Racism in the Columbus Division of Police, published in 2020, Lt. Melissa McFadden, the highest ranking Black female officer in the history of the Columbus Division of Police, writes this near the end of her book:

“I don’t think that the well-meaning people in city government and on citizen advisory panels truly understand the level of oppression and discrimination that still exists within the Columbus Division of Police. Part of that is because we haven’t been able to tell the whole story until now. The other part is that they truly don’t want to believe it. They are still in the “bad apple” mode. It is really shameful that our police department is such a stain on our wonderful city that we love.”

Lt. McFadden continues, “In 2020, everything should not be about racism and sexism within the division, but it is. It spills over into the relationships with the people we serve. What is happening inside the division is a plague that has had tragic implications in our community.”

These words are prophetic in the aftermath of Chief Quinlan’s bungling of the investigation of Casey Goodson, Jr.’s murder on his front steps going into his house with a Subway for his grandmother on December 4th by a Sheriff’s deputy and Baptist pastor Jason Meade. On December 22nd, the fatal shooting of Andre Hill by CPD officer Adam Coy while Andre was delivering a Christmas gift and then all the officers total lack of care for him as he lay dying revealed the sickness in the system. We saw on full display a lack of discipline and compassion.

In the weeks that followed, we also that the mayor has no real plan to deal with the discrimination within the department that spills out into our streets and continues to have tragic implications in our community. I say this because the mayor’s response to Officer Coy’s body camera being turned off and then, at the last minute being turned on, is to waste $4.5 million more dollars on a NEW body camera which turns on automatically replacing the perfectly fine $5 million dollar body cameras that were recently purchased. Rather than penalize officers for “not doing their jobs” and following department regulations, they waste $4.5 million for new body cameras. I liken this to buying a new computer and since I can’t find the “on” button, I throw it out and buy a new computer that turns on by itself. But it is much worse than that. It shows that this is department is run by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) not by chief, the safety director or the mayor. This is a mess.

Imagine what we could do in Columbus with the wasted $4.5 million. We could use $4.5 million for community/police training, for Crisis Intervention Training which trains officers to deal compassionately and effectively with citizens facing mental health crises, for officer training around racial and implicit bias, for programs for our neighborhood youth – that would be money well invested and well-spent.

Where are the comprehensive plans for creating an antiracist police department in Columbus, Ohio? For 2½ years, 75 pastors, priests and rabbis have been working on change. We call ourselves the Area Religious Coalition (ARC). We have been I have been fighting for racial justice within the CPD and for justice for Brown and Black people in this city.

In the last eight months, while Columbus citizens have been marching, crying out and demanding change - the mayor, safety director, chief of police and others in city hall could have boldly stepped up and chiseled away and changed the racist culture within the department, it has not happened.

I have asked myself “why?” I believe there is a lack of vision, leadership, courage and a real desire to become an antiracist culture in the CPD. With the termination of Tom Quinlan’s contract as Chief of Police, we have an opportunity to bring in someone with a vision and plan for change. I believe that person is Perry Tarrant. Mr. Tarrant has demonstrated visionary leadership throughout his entire career. He was the “outside” choice for Chief of Police in 2019. At the end of a national search, he was head and shoulders above every other man or woman on the national search radar. The mayor chose to change this department from the inside. That was the wrong choice. He has admitted that. Now he has the chance to make the right choice. The next chief cannot come from within the department or from a retired officer from CPD stepping back in. We need prophetic imagination to create systemic antiracist change.

The pastors, priests, rabbis and citizens of this community that I have spent time with HAVE vision, leadership, courage and real desire to foster an antiracist culture in the CPD. The mayor needs to open his doors and his heart to people in this community with prophetic imagination. Proverbs 29:18 was never truer than in this present moment, “Where there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint, but happy are those who keep the law.”

Rev. Dr. Tim Ahrens is the Senior Minister of First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in downtown Columbus. A church known for its witness to social justice since its birth as an abolitionist congregation in 1852. Rev. Ahrens is the fifth consecutive senior minister from Yale Divinity School and is a lifelong member of the United Church of Christ.