First step to reform of policing gives hope

Typically, your cause may be in trouble if your local government body responds by forming a working group to decide how a second, yet-to-beformed group will operate.

For squeamish politicians looking to duck responsibility on volatile matters of the day, the formation of working groups creates the appearance of progress but also provides a way to slow that progress to a crawl until the urgency fades.

Right now, for instance, there likely are working groups across Ohio still studying the opioid crisis with meeting agenda topics like, “Heroin in the suburbs. How did we get here?”

So framed, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther’s formation of a working group to design a civilian-run police review board should be viewed skeptically. But after the working group’s first meeting on Tuesday, there is cause for optimism.

Since George Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police this spring, sparking protests for national and local police reform, Columbus has created a police chief’s advisory group as well as the working group for the civilian review board.

The plan, as it stands now, is to put up for a public vote a city charter amendment that would create the review board. In the meantime, the working group must decide what that board would look like and what it should do.

The group will meet about six times between now and November. Tuesday’s virtual meeting — its meetings will be open to the public and available online — was a good start.

In introducing themselves, the 16 members explained why they accepted the city’s invitation to join the group. Their responses were on the mark.

Local activist Jasmine Ayres acknowledged out of the gate that she has her differences with Ginther but appreciated the chance to participate.

“I know I probably give him a little heartburn at night,” she said. But, she said, “I am willing to do anything for my city.”

Dr. Lewis Dodley of the group IMPACT Community Action said, “I’ve been knowing Andy Ginther since he was about 12 years old.”

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Dodley drew a distinction between “elders and olders.” The former try to solve problems, he said. The latter sit around and complain.

Jonathan Mccombs, dean of the College of Health and Public Administration at Franklin University, has a background in criminal justice. He worked as a police officer in the Deep South for almost 10 years, and his backup officer was shot in the head during a traffic stop.

Mccombs and his wife adopted a foster child in December. That underscored for him the need for a police review board.

“I want to make sure that he, and brown people like him, aren’t afraid of the police,” Mccombs said.

When Janay Stevens, a labor and employment lawyer, left home in Reno, Nevada, to go to law school, her late grandmother advised, “Don’t go off and be a lawyer and forget about us, and forget about the community.”

“This is a way to circle back on that commitment that I gave to her about 10 years ago,” Stevens said.

Before the group had even met, its formation was blasted by the police union, which directed most of its ire at Frederick Benton, a respected criminal defense lawyer who recently defended convicted cop killer Quentin Smith.

The FOP’S criticism of Benton, thin to begin with, considering he was doing a job critical to the success of our system of justice, grew flimsier with every word he uttered.

One interesting fact that the FOP overlooked in its indictment of Benton: His father was a police officer.

“I’m not here to say all cops are bad, or all cops are good,” Benton said. “I do care what happens within our community.”

Even if the public approves the charter amendment, the city would still need to negotiate with the FOP if the board is to have any teeth.

The working group sounds prepared for pushback.

“I’ll know this (effort is) successful when the first police officer is adequately punished for their transgression,” Ayres said. “We’ve been convened for a reason.” tdecker@dispatch.com @Theodore_decker