On July 16, Devion Bankhead was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for a brain bleed after Columbus Police Department Officer Jeremy Harris crashed into the civilian driver’s vehicle at 77.4 miles per hour.
The officer was responding to a call for assistance when he lost control of his cruiser on College Street. Bankhead and his four passengers were stopped at the 22nd Street South intersection.
An investigation conducted by Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office found Harris’ high speed was the cause of the crash, though Harris, corroborated by another officer, told investigators Bankhead had pulled into his right-of-way.
CPD also failed to have Harris tested for drugs and alcohol until the next day, despite the city’s policy requiring such within an hour of any employee-involved vehicular accidents.
The incident drew pointed public comments demanding accountability and transparency, sparking the question – what happened to the CPD Citizen Overview Committee?
How did the committee start?
In October 2015, former CPD officer Canyon Boykin shot and killed 26-year-old Ricky Ball after Ball ran from a traffic stop on Northside.
In the shooting’s aftermath, the city tasked a committee with reviewing CPD’s role in the incident through body camera footage, arrests and traffic stops made by the department’s special operations group during the six months leading up to the shooting.
The committee later presented its findings to the council and made recommendations for moving forward, including creating the CPD Citizen Overview Committee.
Consisting of two city representatives and one member chosen per ward, the committee was meant to act as a liaison between the police department and community. Ward 4 Councilwoman Lavonne Harris, who served on the committee’s board at the time, said its first priority was easing tensions after Ball’s death.
“Because that was such a big uproar when that happened about the police shooting him … and that’s how it was formed,” she said.
Along with ensuring the shooting was thoroughly investigated, the eight-member committee was also tasked with reviewing police-to-community performance, helping construct a policy on excessive force and ensuring a transparent complaint process for community members.
What did the committee do?
The committee met every three months with CPD representatives in attendance at each meeting, Colin Krieger, who represented Ward 5 on the overview committee, told The Dispatch. The group would step in whenever there was an incident with police that raised concerns.
“We had a couple of incidents that came up, but that was what it was for, when theoretically a cop either misbehaved or there was at least some perception of misbehavior, they would call us in to have a meeting,” Krieger said.
Harris said that sometimes included meeting with CPD to review body camera footage and to relay what information they could to city residents.
If anything happened, we had the opportunity to go down, watch the video … form our opinions, and then what we would do, we would go back … and let people know what was going on, tell them to please be patient, and then we would come in once we get the results and once the investigation was done with,” she said.
That setup was a benefit for the community and CPD, Krieger said, as the committee could keep the public informed while avoiding the release of any sensitive information.
“When they weren’t able to share stuff publicly, they were able to give us some context that when you hear it in the spoken word sometimes (sounds) better than it would (read) in the newspaper,” Krieger said. “… Because when there isn’t an intermediary, and there isn’t a press conference because … of the personnel issues, then sometimes – much like a text between friends – there’s some misinterpretations of things. People do get defensive on all sides.”
It also gave citizens points of contact to air concerns related to crime prevention.
Harris said the committee was responsible for putting new policies in motion at the police department, including requiring officers to have their body cameras activated during any interactions with civilians, a policy CPD still upholds. It also made officer discipline recommendations when necessary.
What happened to the committee?
In November 2019, members voted to make the group an ad hoc committee, meaning it would only meet on an as-needed basis.
Some of the original members had moved away and others were stepping down, so the committee sort of “faded out,” Harris said.
Krieger said he felt like the committee had been successful up until that point.
“I think we were building (toward) something when we were doing it,” he said. “I thought that the meetings were going great, especially between communication in each individual ward because people were saying, ‘Hey we need this. We need close patrol directly to us.’ Or they would just call me and say, ‘Hey, I had a break in, and they could have handled it better.’”
Harris said she floated the idea of bringing the committee back before she joined the council in July but was unsuccessful.
“I did ask (Chief Joseph Daughtry) about bringing it back,” she said. “This was before I even decided to run for city council. At the time, he said that he didn’t need it because he was going to be transparent.”
Daughtry was unavailable to provide a comment to The Dispatch by press time on Monday.
Is there still a need?
If the committee was still active, Krieger believes it definitely would have been an asset for CPD and the community in the aftermath of the July 16 collision.
“I think it has a great place as a communication device between the public and the police and the city when you have a situation that needs some context,” Krieger said. “When there’s parties on all sides that either don’t want to share information or can’t, like when you have a personnel issue with the police department.”
Harris agreed.
“It would have been a good thing,” she said. “… Like in the situation … we’re going through now.”
Additionally, Krieger said the committee could have taken the conversation beyond just incident review to instead push for broader policy discussions, like when a high-speed pursuit is appropriate on city streets.
“I really do think we have a police force that’s doing a great job right now, and part of it may be that not enough people know it,” he said. “I really do think (the committee) was just an excellent communication device … to have some citizens have a say in some of the things.”
Mayor Stephen Jones did not respond to calls and texts from The Dispatch by press time on Monday.
Editor’s note: Do you want answers to questions about the Golden Triangle? Each week, Dispatch reporters set out to explain or update a timely, practical issue. Email your question to [email protected].
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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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 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
