A city official has told The Dispatch that the Columbus police officer who initiated a controversial traffic stop on Aug. 18 was not actually supposed to be patrolling by himself.
Keith Dowd, 48, began working for Columbus Police Department on July 24. Per department policy, new officers typically spend six weeks patrolling with a field-training officer (FTO) to learn standard procedures. But the city official, who wished not to be named for fear of job security, said Police Chief Oscar Lewis placed Dowd on individual patrol after only 10 days to help mitigate an officer shortage.
On Aug. 18, Dowd — a white officer who also has worked stints on police forces in the Jackson area — stopped 20-year-old Joshua Hibbler, who is black, in east Columbus, presumably for speeding. Body camera footage The Dispatch obtained of the incident shows Dowd insulting the driver, accusing him of lying and marijuana use. At one point, he says he can “empty a magazine” from his service weapon into the pulled-over car if Hibbler doesn’t keep his hands still.
“Technically, when this event occurred, Dowd was supposed to be with another officer,” the source said.
Dowd has since resigned from CPD. However, Lewis initially gave him a written reprimand and kept him on active duty. Last week, after Mayor Robert Smith and City Attorney Jeff Turnage saw the body camera footage, they reopened the investigation into harassment and possible racial profiling. Smith also cited at least two other incidents where Dowd “exhibited similar behavior” on traffic stops since joining CPD.
Hibbler also filed a formal complaint Wednesday with CPD claiming Dowd harassed him and forced him to lie.
The Dispatch could not reach Lewis this morning for comment on why Dowd was patrolling alone on Aug. 18.
No red flags found
Dowd came before the city council fully recommended for hire as CPD officer, Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell said.
He passed a background check, aced his interview, had solid references and breezed through both his psychological evaluation and a polygraph test that are standard for all officer candidates. Mitchell said Dowd did better than most on the polygraph.
“He had no deceptions, which is rare,” she said. “Everybody (registers) some deception. … We chalked it up to he had done that kind of work. He knows the loopholes, what to say, what not to say (in a polygraph test).”
Yet, less than a month after Dowd’s July 24 starting date, he had allegedly harassed drivers on at least three different traffic stops.
He also had been accused of harassment at previous jobs, including a 15-day suspension in 2006, when he worked for Jackson Police Department, for handcuffing a female WAPT videographer to keep her from capturing footage of a fatal wreck scene involving another officer, a source with the news station confirmed.
Dowd worked for JPD from 2002-08 and most recently for the University of Mississippi Medical Center police force.
Lewis, who spoke to The Dispatch Thursday afternoon, said he thought Dowd would be a good officer.
“It was surprising to see that on the video,” Lewis said. “You just never know sometimes. Even though you can try to put checks and balances in place, sometimes you will have a few employees that don’t necessarily work out.”
Hiring officers
The general hiring process for police officers is more rigorous than for other city employees, Mitchell said. All police candidates submit with their application a 17-page personal history package in which they can include a more detailed employment history. That package goes to CPD Director of Training Liz Patrick, who releases the information for background checks.
Normally CPD’s Criminal Investigation Division handles the background checks for police officer candidates, Mitchell said. But last spring and summer, when CPD was recruiting more heavily than usual to boost its flagging numbers, CPD clerks were making some of the calls for the background checks.
After the background checks, officers undergo voice stress analyzers, or polygraph tests, Mitchell said. Patrick performs a psychological evaluation on the candidates, who then do a face-to-face interview with Mitchell, Lewis, Assistant Chief of Police Fred Shelton, CID Capt. Brent Swan and Patrol Capt. Richard Higgins.
Mitchell said Patrick “fully recommended” Dowd after his psychological evaluation.
Candidate information then goes before the Columbus Civil Service Commission, the final vetting step before the council ratifies hires.
Neither Patrick nor Higgins answered calls for comment by press time.
Consultant weighs in
University of Memphis Criminology and Criminal Justice Chair K.B. Turner, who acted as CPD consultant during the time Dowd was hired, called psychological evaluation one of the “greatest challenges” in the police hiring process.
“It’s not an exact science and sometimes people get past us,” he said.
Turner said he doesn’t remember coming across Dowd’s name when he helped recruit officers earlier this year. But he called the Aug. 18 footage on Dowd’s body camera “embarrassing.”
“I’ve spent so many years in this field, and that’s not the way we trained officers,” he said. “That’s not what we expect from officers. We expect a much higher level of conduct and control.”
Turner said Dowd’s behavior in the video comes across as cynical, authoritarian, psychopathological and rude.
“In short, he’s dangerous,” he said.
Turner added departments should always look closely at officer candidates’ backgrounds and especially at previous incidents at former departments, such as Dowd’s suspension from JPD.
“Not knowing the specifics of this case, I can’t speak with more degree of certainty,” Turner said. “But if an officer has a record or a pattern of misbehavior or misconduct, that has to be scrutinized very closely by the respective hiring agency.”
Lewis has also come under fire for not ordering Dowd on administrative leave as soon as the body camera footage came to his attention.
Turner also said Lewis’ response to Dowd’s behavior should have been “much more stringent” than just a written reprimand.
In August, following Turner’s six-month analysis of CPD, he recommended Lewis be removed as chief. The city council, in response, instead placed Lewis on an action plan for improvement.
Reporter Alex Holloway contributed to this article.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.