The departure of several Columbus Police Department officers is causing concern among city officials.
On Tuesday, the city council approved letters of resignation from four officers and retirement from a lieutenant.
Police Chief Oscar Lewis said the resignations and retirement bring CPD down to about 45 officers. The department is budgeted for 77, though city and police administrators have expressed some concern over the CPD’s difficulty in hiring new officers.
During the meeting, Lewis said he’s not exactly sure why officers are leaving. He said it could be any number of things, such as officers having the opportunity to work closer to home, to officers quitting after being disciplined.
“There’s various reasons and we’d have to talk with them,” Lewis said. “I don’t get much information or details about specifics. People are unhappy for various reasons, and I just don’t understand sometimes how you could just give up a job and move on.”
City Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell said she normally conducts exit interviews. However, she noted officers sometimes say they don’t have time to do one before the leave, then never return to participate in the exit interview.
Lt. Terrie Songer submitted her letter of retirement, effective Sept. 14, for health reasons.
CPD Officer Kenyada Blair’s resignation, effective immediately, comes on the heels of her Sept. 6 arrest for domestic violence. Blair was already suspended for getting into a fight with a civilian at McDonald’s earlier in the summer.
Another officer, Christian Benson, submitted his resignation, effective today, after accepting a job elsewhere.
The last resignation letter included in the online agenda, from officer Andrews Rodriguez, effective Sept. 26, said he’s resigning because the city “has ignored this department and its employees for far too long.”
A fourth resignation letter added to the meeting agenda on Tuesday wasn’t immediately available for public inspection.
Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box, who initiated Tuesday’s discussion, said he’s deeply concerned about how many officers have left CPD.
Box suggested implementing a policy to have Lewis or Assistant Police Chief Fred Shelton involved in exit interviews. His suggestion drew support from Mayor Robert Smith, though the council took no action on it Tuesday evening.
“This is getting critical to me, with the number that we’re losing,” Box said. “When you see this many leaving in one meeting — I’m not putting this on anybody, but I want you to know how concerned I am, and I want you to know a lot of people up here are concerned also and the citizens are concerned.”
Lewis said the numbers seem critical but insisted the city crime rate is dropping. Box pointed out that a man was shot to death Monday evening in south Columbus. Monday’s shooting death was the first homicide in the city since June 7, as Smith noted.
“There are things I can control as chief and there are things I can’t control,” Lewis said. “God has ultimate control in certain things and I just can’t control when somebody is going to take someone else’s life. We’re doing everything as a department that we can to make sure that this city is safe as it can be with what we have.”
As the discussion wore on, Lewis said CPD officers work well more than 40 hours a week. He asked if the city could do anything to increase officer pay.
Smith said there wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the request, but questioned if that would ultimately solve CPD’s problems.
“I don’t have a problem with that, but is that the only reason why they’re leaving? Is pay the only reason that they’re leaving? I don’t think pay is the only reason,” he said.
“A lot of them have families,” he later added. “A lot of them want to spend time with their families also. So, I mean, you don’t want to just work them to death.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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.