COLUMBUS – Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther took three steps forward in his police reform agenda Wednesday, announced the hiring of a law firm and an investigator to look into complaints arising from how the city’s police handled recent protests, and the formation of a group whose job will be to create a civilian review board.
The law firm BakerHostetler will look into about 40 incidents reported to an email hotline outside of the police division’s chain of command for people to send complaints, video and photographs of how officers reacted to downtown protests.
The firm will handle investigations into incidents that may lead to administrative review while a professional investigator and retired FBI agent will investigate another 16 incidents for potential criminal charges.
Ginther says there are additional complaints that have come in to the division’s Internal Affairs Bureau hat are also still being reviewed and he says it is likely that more will be forwarded the independent investigators.
The mayor also seated a 16-member workgroup, consisting of legal experts, minority advocates, faith leaders and others, to create a structure for a civilian review board with subpoena and investigative powers, which Ginther has vowed to put in place by next year.