Mayor outlines steps to boost confidence inpolice

Columbus police’s relationship to community strained.

More training for Columbus police officers who encounter people experiencing mental health problems and more bike patrols in other neighborhoods will be part of Mayor Andrew J. Ginther’s plan to improve police community relations and curb the city’s growing homicide rate.

Ginther called the city’s 111 homicides so far this year “disturbingly high” at a press conferenceWednesday, notingthat policehavenoknownmotiveor suspect for about half of those cases. Public Safety Director Ned Pettus said a lack of trust bycommunitymembersisone of the reasons cases are difficult to solve.

“The faith and confidence of our residents in police is critical to our ability to keep our neighborhoods safe,” Ginther said. “But the stark reality is many in our community say their faith is shaken, leading to strained relationships between the community and police.”

On Wednesday, Ginther andmembers of his administration, including police Chief Kim Jacobs, outlined programs the city already has started to try to improve that relationship. Ginther said he has held roundtable discussions with people in thecommunity over the last month to discuss the police force, including members of the citizens’ groups that have protested at City Hall over the last year.

About two-thirds of the city’soperatingbudget– about $577 million – is devoted to its police and fire forces.

A pilot programin Linden that ran from May through July used officers on bike patrol to get to know residents better. Ginther said it helped curb violent crime and gather intelligence for cases. Thenumberof assaults and aggravated assaults dipped55 percentcompared with the year before.

That program could be expanded to other neighborhoods, but Ginther declined to provide further details before the release of his 2018 budget later this month.

Jacobs said menta l health crisis training will be required of all Columbus police cadets. An additional 100 training slots a yearwill be opened in the police academy to train veteran officers as well, she said.

By 2020, the department expects tohave trainedabout half its officers in crisis intervention. The city created a new lieutenant position to oversee crisis intervention this year.

The city also has assigned an officer to be a liaison to the Muslim and immigrant communities, Jacobs said, and it has hired community members to help it select new police recruits.

Ginther’s administration also highlighted the city’s youth employment programs through the Department ofRecreation and Parks and a response team fromthe Department of PublicHealth that is addressing trauma in neighborhoodshitbyviolence.

Asked if the city would add more police officers in 2017, Ginther said “this is bigger than just more police officers.”