What’s in the 2013 Columbus Police Department Assessment

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - A source close to WTVM gave us an assessment conducted on the Columbus Police Department 10 years ago. At that time the department was under the leadership of Chief Rickey Boren and the city under the leadership of Mayor Teresa Tomlison.

The 2013 assessment done by a company called management partners, listed 23 recommendations for improvement for the department in comparison to the Jensen Hughes assessment with current police chief Freddie Blackmon that lists 70 recommendations for the department.

Months ago we told you how Jensen Hughes said the department lacked officer retention, leadership, resources, technology, and a written strategic plan. Rewind to 2012 under the management partners assessment which according to our source was never made public during a city council meeting or to the tax payers of Columbus. One of the recommendations, about policy and crime analysis capability states and I quote “The CPD has made a concerted effort to become an intelligence-based policing agency. however, the department is limited by both insufficient technology and personnel who are not trained in effective police analysis.”

On the issue of police retention, in 2012 the department had 197 officers on the force. They were budgeted for 488 officers. compare that to the current assessment with Jensen Hughes, it states quote, retention at the CPD has been significant for several years, not just during the current administration. the report goes on to say between 2016 and 2020, 241 officers resigned from the department.

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