Columbus City Council is proposing to hold off on making any more hires to the city’s police department until after the city’s audit comes back.
Council voted back in November to hire an independent professional to audit the recruitment, civil service and hiring practices for the Division of Police after it was recommended from the Community Safety Advisory Commission.
Currently, City Council President Shannon Hardin says the city is halfway through that audit.
By delaying hires until that comes back Hardin says it will delay the June CPD recruitment class but it’s necessary to ensure the best quality for the city and its people.
“I believe that we should wait until this audit is complete to hire additional officers,” Hardin said. “We have an obligation to ensure we are hiring the best people for our community.”
Friday, 39 recruits with the 134th recruitment class will be graduating.
CPD Deputy Chief Jennifer Knight says the classes that graduated last year, the class graduating Friday and the class slated to graduate in June are the best that the city is looking for.
“I’ve met each one of these students [and] they’re phenomenal,” Knight said. “We actually are graduating tomorrow some of the highest diversity numbers we’ve ever seen and this is one of the mayor’s stated goals and it’s really one of the city’s goals for us to improve those numbers.”
She says 38 percent of Friday’s graduating class fall under diversity criteria.
Mayor Andrew Ginther is also weighing in on the council’s proposal.
Statement from Mayor Ginther
“We welcome the collaboration with City Council on expanding resources for mental health, addiction and alternative response system that will help our city offer the right response to emergency calls at the right time.
I respectfully disagree with them on postponing the next police recruit class. Such action will delay increasing the diversity and enhanced training of our officers, which our community demands. Maintaining – not increasing -- the current level of uniformed officers is also important as we battle the rising number of homicides and other violent crimes in our neighborhoods.
We do not need to choose between police reform and neighborhood safety. Our budget allows us to do both, without risk for neighborhood safety or delays in reform.”