Reynoldsburg Police Chief Jim O’Neill says it is time to make some changes within his department following the arrest and suicide of a narcotics detective.
O'Neill tells 10TV this has been a very trying and emotional week for his department.
Officer Tye Downard was arrested last week on charges he used his connections to allegedly deal drugs. Downard committed suicide in his jail cell early Monday morning.
"It's difficult to take that he got involved in this,” O’Neill said. "I was shocked. There was, at least as far as we were concerned, no indication that this was happening. Nothing really got on anyone's radar and that causes us some concern that we have a gap or two out there."
Two other Reynoldsburg police officers have been placed on administrative leave in connection with Downard's arrest.
Chief O'Neill says he is trying to prevent future situations like this by conducting an internal audit on his department’s policies and procedures.
He is also asking the Grove City and Upper Arlington police departments to review his department's way of doing things.
"Kind of an outside approach to see if there's anything we're just not seeing that probably should be apparent,” O’Neill said.
The chief plans to make another change—creating a new position called a Professional Standards Officer.
"That's basically somebody who keeps an eye not only on our policies and procedures but on the actual practices to make sure they match up,” he said.
O’Neill says he hopes the changes can help to restore any trust that may have been lost over the past week.
"We're going to do what we need to do to regain the trust of the public and those that we serve,” he said. "We're going to win them back one at a time if we need to, but we're going to win them back."