Right now, Columbus leaders including @MayorGinther, @CityAttyKlein, @SG_Hardin & @ChiefQuinlan are giving updates on police reform. First up, Quinlan is elaborating on a policy advisory panel.
He and Ginther began talking about this a week or two ago.
He and Ginther began talking about this a week or two ago.
Quinlan says the first meeting will be in July, Ginther says he and city council have selected 14 members for the council.
Mayor Ginther says he's directed the division to stop using tear gas and pepper spray to break up non-violent crowds
Here are the members of the advisory panel: 
.@CityAttyKlein says initially CPD was able to deploy teargas or pepper spray simply for ppl entering a street. Klein says they've added explicit language to prohibit use of chemical agents for entering a street or refusing to leave a space.
Early on, police used chemical agents to disperse crowds when only a few individuals in a largely peaceful crowd threw projectiles.
@ChiefQuinlan refuses to go into specific tactics, but says he "gets it" and that police need a diff approach in that instance.
@ChiefQuinlan refuses to go into specific tactics, but says he "gets it" and that police need a diff approach in that instance.
w/r/t to "defund the police" @MayorGinther says he doesn't support that. Columbus is trying to build a "21st century police force" and we're not there yet. Says he wants to ensure communities aren't over policed and police are asked to do too much.
Just so happens, I reported on that this morning: radio.wosu.org/post/defund-po…
Council prez @SG_Hardin echoes Ginther's point that police are called on to do too many jobs. Brings up the idea of demilitarization as well.
In my story @ProfJeffries had this to say about the many roles of police:
"We've been asking them to be social workers, we've been asking them to be in schools, we've asked them to serve as addiction specialists. And those things, they are neither trained for nor equipped to do."
"We've been asking them to be social workers, we've been asking them to be in schools, we've asked them to serve as addiction specialists. And those things, they are neither trained for nor equipped to do."
.@CityAttyKlein brings up the idea of trying to get at root causes of crime and try to break the cycle.
Last year (feels like a decade ago) Klein and @sdfavor introduced a program to do that in cases like theft: radio.wosu.org/post/some-thef…
Last year (feels like a decade ago) Klein and @sdfavor introduced a program to do that in cases like theft: radio.wosu.org/post/some-thef…
