COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Police Officer buyout is complete and 100 officers accepted the deal, but some in the community are worried this means that putting an end to gun violence in the city will be more difficult.
Both the Columbus Division of Police and the Department of Public Safety told 10TV Tuesday that there are now 1,722 sworn officers on staff.
The job of protecting and serving the community is never-ending. It’s a mission Tiffany White, an activist in Linde and a board member of the Minority Recruiting for Police and Fire, doesn't take lightly.
"We cannot continue to have 12,15,17,18-year old’s being gun downed in the streets,” White said.
White believes that stopping gun violence may be harder now after 100 officers took a $200,000 buyout to leave the department.
"It does give me concern, but it also gives me a little bit of hope that we start moving more toward that community policing model,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety told 10TV that none of the officers that partook in the buyout were patrol officers. They say the public's safety won't be impacted by the buyout.
White believes this is a chance to make the city better.
"We're trying to rebuild that community trust,” she said. “We want to make sure we have the best."
The Department of Public Safety told us a class of 55 new officers will graduate from the Training Academy this month. Once they graduate, officers will then have 15 weeks of training on the streets with Field Training officers.
A class of 46 new officers just started the Academy last month.