Columbus Police Department Capt. Fred Shelton drew a vigorous round of applause from the audience Tuesday evening as the city council voted to name him the department’s newest assistant chief.
Police Chief Oscar Lewis recommended Shelton for the position.
Shelton replaces former assistant chief Tony McCoy, who resigned from the department in January.
Following former CPD Chief Tony Carleton’s resignation last fall, Shelton applied for the chief position. He was ultimately one of three finalists for the position. The council, however, selected Lewis for the top CPD job.
At the time, city leaders indicated they hoped Shelton would get the assistant chief nod. On Tuesday night, the city council unanimously approved his promotion.
Shelton has served with CPD for more than 30 years. After the meeting, he said he was pleased with the promotion and looks forward to continuing to serve in his new position.
“After all these years I’ve seen things that need to change and should change,” he said. “Now I’m in a position to make positive change where I can make this department better. I already have some things in mind that I will be able to make sure get accomplished through this new authority that I have, and they will be positive changes for the community.”
K-9 unit
Also on Tuesday, the city council voted unanimously to pay $8,900 to add a dog to the police force.
“Stanley,” a 2-year-old Belgian malinois, will be used in narcotics detection, officer protection, suspect apprehension and public relations. The dog is not the first the department has used but is the first trained for multiple uses and the only dog currently on staff.
“A police dog will be a great addition to providing protection to the citizens of Columbus,” Mayor Robert Smith said in a statement. “In the past, a police dog only did one thing; be it drug detection or tracking suspects. Now, one police dog can do it all and that’s why Stanley would be such a great member of the department.”
CPD Officer Robert Eguires has trained with Stanley for the past two months.
The city is paying for Stanley out of CPD’s budget.
A private donor was originally going to support the cost, according to city officials. Lewis said those plans fell through prior to his arrival.
Eguires and Stanley will begin duty the last week of March.
GPS units
CPD will be getting 40 new GPS units for its patrol vehicles after Columbus councilmen unanimously approved a request from Lewis.
Lewis said the new units should provide more accurate tracking information: each unit updates its location every minute, as opposed to every five minutes for CPD’s current units.
“It gives us more flexibility,” Lewis said. “You can be almost anywhere in this city in five minutes.”
Lewis said CPD purchased the units for total of $1,190. It will cost $716.60 per month to use them.
Lewis said every CPD shift supervisor will have access to the GPS units and he’s considering allowing E-911 access as well. That will allow E-911 to determine which patrol cars are closest to certain situations and quickly dispatch them.
Lewis said the GPS units should also be useful for keeping up with officers’ locations and managing them, when needed.
“If anything goes on, we’re able to pull up these officers’ locations and go back and trace where they’ve patrolled, if a problem arises or complaint,” he said. “At the end of the day, if there’s an issue where nobody’s answering their radio, we can pull them up with this.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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