City officials approved job descriptions for three positions within the Columbus Police Department (CPD) this week.
The Columbus Board of Public Works and Safety approved the descriptions, which include two new lieutenant positions and another for police chaplain which is going from a contract employee to part-time.
Matt Martindale, deputy chief, said the budget the council approved for 2025 allowed the department to increase the number of lieutenants.
The chaplain position was previously contracted out, but due to changes in federal law, CPD created a part-time position for it, directly employed by the department.
“Police chaplains assist police agency personnel, and the public, with personal, spiritual, moral and ethical consultation,” the description reads.
The number of full-time CPD employees is staying the same— what were two patrol positions are to become one for operations lieutenant and administrative lieutenant.
The administrative lieutenant will oversee the department’s records division and property room. They will also help with accreditation and ensure compliance with Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act, Martindale told board members.
Handling requests for public records had been done by the department’s administrative captain, Martindale said, but the number of requests for records are “going up over time” to the point where it became “overly burdensome” when combined with other responsibilities the administrative captain has day-to-day.
“We’re just adding a step in the line of supervision to streamline things and make sure that we’ve got good accountability for processing those requests,” per Martindale.
The operations lieutenant will be focused on “both officer wellness and community engagement.”
This will involve overseeing things like physicals, check-ins with mental health professionals for officers, along with peer-support for the department’s employees.
The community engagement piece will involve the operations lieutenant serving as the department’s representative on several different community boards as well.
Mayor Mary Ferdon said the city is particularly pleased to have the operations lieutenant position because it would be somebody “whose added emphasis is on helping care for officers’ mental health. And then as a liaison with the community, whatever’s happening in the community, they can make sure that the officers know it.”
Martindale said they already have two employees in mind for both lieutenant positions.
