Video: Special Committee Reviews Policing

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Columbus, Miss. (WCBI) — Columbus city councilmen joined Mayor Robert Smith and Interim Police Chief Fred Shelton for over 2 hours Thursday to learn the truth about Columbus policing.

City councilmen were also joined by one member of their respective Ward.

The special committee was formed to learn information about the department’s use of body cameras and it’s standard operating procedure. It’s purpose is to provide transparent insight into the Special Operation Group, or SOG, that was involved in the fatal shooting of Ricky Ball on October 16th.

The committee was unable to view the video from that incident because of the ongoing FBI investigation.

The video they watched was a compilation of the traffic stops and arrests over the past 6 months, as well as incidents that happened on October 16th before the shooting.

“Every one of us learned something here that we didn’t know before…”, said citizen committee member Berry Hinds.

Mayor Robert Smith said the committee saw there were inconsistencies with the officer’s body cameras where one officer would have their activated, while the other were not.

Although there were inconsistencies, Hinds, who represented Ward 6 and councilman Bill Gavin, said, “almost all the ones we looked at…at least one officer at every incident did have a camera on…”

Interim Chief Shelton also gave a demonstration on how the body cameras work and what the correct protocol is.

Columbus police currently has 1 body camera for every active officer in the department. The department currently has 53 officers.

Many committee members praised Shelton for his information and helpfulness when guiding the members through each body camera video clip.

Ward 5 city councilman Kabir Karriem said an objective for the meeting was “…to make sure that the community gets the information that it’s been so thirsty for”.

Karriem also said having members from the community is necessary because the police department and city need to work to gain the trust back to the community.

Hinds said he hopes to take what he’s learned and share it with his neighbors.

“…help them understand how the police department is trying to use cameras…”, Hinds said, “…and hopefully we’re going to make some good suggestions as a group to the police department and Mayor and City Council on how they can improve on what they’re doing…”

Karriem says once all the information has been presented and all questions have been answered, then the suggestions will be brought before the Mayor and City Council in a public session.

The committee has scheduled another meeting for next Wednesday, December 9th, to view more body camera video. The committee will also collectively discuss policy issues and give their suggestions and ideas as to what can be done to improve.