Blame Officer Friendly.
Newly minted Columbus Police Chief Joseph Daughtry Sr. said it was interacting with Officer Friendly, and a neighborhood cop, that made him want to be a policeman when he grew up.
“In the 1970s when I was growing up, you had Officer Friendly,” he said. “You had police officers who would let you sit in the car, turn the lights on, put their hat on your head. … They let you know they were there for you. Back then when we got in trouble, we ran to the police because we knew they were going to help us.”
Daughtry said part of his mission here is to bring back that kind of tie between the police and the citizens.
“One thing that irks me is to be in uniform in a restaurant or Walmart and have a parent who can’t discipline their child tell them if they’re not good the police are going to put them in jail,” he said. “… It instills a bad taste in children’s minds so when they see us, they’re fearful. That’s something we need to break.”
Daughtry was hired in November to take the reins at CPD after the retirement of previous chief Fred Shelton. He was chosen from a field of about 70 applicants, about 35 of which met the minimum requirements. He will be paid an annual salary of $100,000.
Daughtry, who spent a large part of his career doing community-service-oriented policing, said one of the biggest challenges faced by CPD — like with many other departments — is the “disconnect” between police and the community they serve. One way he intends to try to bridge that gap is by creating a community service division.
“I plan on having a deputy chief over that division,” he said. “I’m going to have officers and civilians assigned to it, to work as community liaisons. They are going to be your 2023 Officer Friendlys.”
Daughtry said, once staffing numbers are up, he intends to have one community service officer for each of the city’s six wards. These officers will not be taken away from patrol.
“They are still police officers; they are still on patrol,” he said. “But when there’s an issue in the community, community members can call them directly. If a neighborhood group wants to talk to the chief, there’s a direct line to me and also someone to follow up on those concerns.”
Police officers in general need to have “a servant’s heart,” he said.
“If you have the right heart and the right frame of mind, you’re able to help without being so hard,” he said. “We have contact with citizens when they’re usually at their weakest point, and they’re usually at their breaking point. If you come in with a stronger mentality it can be detrimental.”
Daughtry said he wants to show the community that the department is working hard.
“I think a big misconception is that people think officers are lazy and not working,” he said. “The communication isn’t there. When we solve certain cases, it’s not getting out to the public that we’re solving them.”
Officers are going to be pushed to be better communicators, he said.
“For example, with (Criminal Investigation Division) we are going to implement a callback day,” he said. “Officers will go through their logs and call people whose cases they’re working on and let them know we’re still working on it. The worst thing you can do is not communicate with the victim of a crime.”
CPD also needs better equipment, especially radios, he said. Currently both the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and Columbus Fire and Rescue have radios that allow them to use statewide channels, but CPD does not.
“(Columbus City Council) and the mayor have already committed to funding the police department,” he said. “But they have to buy in, just like the officers and the community, because we have got to make some changes.”
Daughtry hopes those changes will make the department more attractive.
“We’ve got to change the way we look, the way we do things, we’ve got to show a level of professionalism and we’ve got to bring pride back to this department,” he said. “That will attract people and make them want to come here. We also have one of the best benefits packages around.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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