Photo by Mike Wolanin | The Republic A Columbus Police Department squad vehicle with new updated vehicle wrap.
The Board of Public Works and Safety approved updates to three Columbus Police Department general orders having to do with the organization of the department, officers’ uniforms, and their response to critical incidents.
Columbus Deputy Chief of Police Matt Martindale told board members that the directives, which outline policies and procedures for the department, underwent only minor changes.
General Order 11 describes the organizational structure at the police department. Per Martindale, most of the changes had to do with a new operations lieutenant position, which the board approved a description for in November.
At the time the board also approved descriptions for a new administrative lieutenant and another for police chaplain.
The operations lieutenant will be focused on officer wellness and community engagement, whereas the administrative lieutenant will oversee the department’s records division and property room.
“It adds in the operations lieutenant reporting to our administrative captain and then it reassigns the school resource officer sergeant from reporting to the day-shift lieutenant to the operations lieutenant,” Martindale said of the changes. “And then the police chaplain (reports) to the operations lieutenant.”
The order also redefines the names CPD gives their detectives, Martindale said. Narcotics detectives will now be referred to as the Drug Narcotics Enforcement Team and everyday detectives will be known as investigative detectives.
General Order 26, “Disciplinary Procedures and Internal Affairs,” also encompasses uniform wear, according to Martindale.
CPD tweaked the order so carrying pepper spay and an expandable baton is now optional and no longer mandatory.
“In talking with our use of force instructors and anybody that reviews those reports, those items are seldom used,” Martindale said. “A lot of officers have concerns with the pepper spray being transferred if we use it on somebody and then gets in our eyes, and then we’re not able to work as effectively.”
The order specifies that the pepper spray will still be available in the officer’s car and also added language to give officers an option to have a gold or silver badge embroidered on their winter hats. Previously, officers just had an option between plain black or blue hat, per Martindale.
The last order to be updated was General Order 46: “Critical Incidents, Special Operations, and Homeland Security.”
CPD wanted to update how they respond to bomb threats, the deputy chief said.
“We already have language in there instructing officers to turn off their radios and cell phones because of concerns for radio frequency interference if there is a potential hazardous device,” Martindale said. “And this policy is just catching up with body cams, which are also constantly transmitting and receiving data, so instructing them to turn those off as well for safety.”
