COLUMBUS — Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther has asked the Department of Justice for an investigation into the city’s police department following a series of police killings of Black people.
The Democratic mayor says while the city is committed to reform and has already established a number of “significant” changes in the past few years, it is not enough.
Wednesday’s request said a culture change is needed inside the police department.
A statement from the union representing Columbus police officers red, in part, “politicians constantly vilifying officers breeds contempt for authority, emboldens the criminal element has led to a mass exodus of law enforcement officers from the profession,” according to a report by WNBS 10-TV.
The Justice Department recently announced it’s opening probes into policing in Louisville, Kentucky, over the March 2020 death of Breonna Taylor, and in Minneapolis following last year’s death of George Floyd.