A report submitted to city leaders points harsh criticism at Columbus Police Chief Oscar Lewis’ leadership and calls for the city to name a new police chief.
The 95-page report, compiled by consultant K.B. Turner, is the culmination of a six-month evaluation of the department. City Councilmen hired Turner in January for $19,000.
Turner, a certified law enforcement officer and Columbus native, also chairs the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at the University of Memphis.
In his report, Turner lauds the department’s progress, noting that it’s on track to add 30 new officers by the end of the year. However, he levies several broadsides at Lewis’ leadership and in allowing staffing issues to develop.
Turner’s report notes that the addition of so many new officers will effectively make CPD a new department. He said he is “unconvinced” that Lewis is prepared to lead that department.
Further in the report, Turner says the staffing problems posed a significant threat to citizen safety.
“Unfortunately, Chief Oscar Lewis has unwittingly placed this community in a precarious situation as a result of his inability or failure to maintain an acceptable staffing level for public safety,” Turner wrote. “The community deserves a more effective leader at the department. The research conducted for this evaluation indicates a change in leadership at the helm is needed to achieve a more efficient, effective and responsive Columbus Police Department.”
City councilmen discussed the matter in executive session, but tabled it.
“Some of the stuff was sort of a surprise,” Mayor Robert Smith said. “At the present time, it is a report and he did a thorough report. No action was taken.”
Turner notes, at one point, that the department’s staffing levels dropped by one-third after Lewis’ hire in Jan. 2016.
“It appeared that the Chief showed little concern that citizens were being served and protected with one-third fewer officers than the number employed when he was first appointed to the position,” he wrote. “The Department was in a state of crisis and the Chief was seemingly apathetic toward the recruitment of officers and the safety of the citizenry.”
Lewis declined to comment after Tuesday’s meeting.
Citizen and officer surveys
Turner presented a summary of his report to councilmen during open session in Tuesday’s city council meeting.
The summary included anonymous responses from citizen and police officer surveys that. The responses ranged from positive (“Hard working men and women who bust their butts to do the job, even with extremely limited manpower”) to negative, such as one officer saying a supervisor followed them home when they were on break.
In the summary, Turner shared responses from citizen and police officer surveys that paint a picture of shaky trust in CPD’s performance and leadership.
In the citizen poll, 33.6 percent of respondents said CPD has a good public image, while 38.2 percent disagreed with the statement and 29.3 percent said they didn’t agree or disagree. Slightly more than half of citizen survey respondents, at 50.6 percent, said they have confidence in CPD’s leadership, while 25.6 percent said they did not and 23.7 percent voiced no opinion.
Responses from the officer survey painted a more negative picture.
More than half, 54.2 percent, said they do not have confidence in the department’s top administrators, compared to 20.9 who said they do. Similarly, 66.6 percent of officer respondents said they don’t trust top CPD administrators, compared to 12.5 percent who said they do.
Turner said the recommendations in his report are based on his evaluation, which is based on his observations and interviews. He said his duty, during the evaluation period, was to pick out the actual issues facing the department, rather than taking what disgruntled officers or civilians may have said purely at face value.
“The challenge for me as an evaluator is to remain objective, listen and pick up central themes,” Turner said. “That’s what I began to pick up–people who were officers and civilians, elected officials, sworn officers of other agencies, all began to repeat a central theme.
“That is, the chief is a good person — and I endorse that — but there were serious concerns about leadership skills going back to the mass exodus of police officers they felt he did not do a good job in regards to the exodus in terms of returning the department to the authorized strength level,” he added.
Other matters
Speaking to the council, Turner said the primary goal of his evaluation — rebuilding CPD’s manpower — has been accomplished.
Smith, speaking to The Dispatch after the meeting, said he was pleased with CPD’s progress.
“You can just look at where we are today, (compared to) where we were six months ago, and we’re up to 70 officers,” Smith said. “We have another crew that will be going to the academy as soon as these get back.
“I would say the morale has improved in the department, but there’s room for more,” he said. “In any organization, regardless of how good things there are, there’s always room for improvement.”
Smith also noted he would like to extend Turner for another six months. However, that would require council approval at a later meeting.
“What I would like to see happen and what he would like to do is stay another six months before he moves on,” Smith said. “I hope the council would allow him to stay another six months and work with the recruits like he’s been working with them as they come back (from the state academy) each week.
“He’s been so heavily involved from a recruiting perspective in working to get the department to where it needs to be, I would hope the council would grant him another six months,” Smith added.
Turner’s report includes recommendations in six areas beyond leadership — community, personnel, policy, organization, technical and training.
His recommendations include the department implement community policing as quickly as possible; hire additional staff for the crime lab; that the police chief post requirements, expectations and dates for promotional exams; creation of an Office of Professional Standards where citizens can voice concerns; a Wi-Fi network upgrade to allow officers to complete reports from anywhere in the city instead of having to return to the police station; and to require all future police recruits to begin in pre-academy at CPD before attending the state academy.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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