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COLUMBUS, Ga. — “The truth is that you always know the right thing to do. The tough part is doing it.” — Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf.
This is the fifth article in a five-part series on the recent Operational Assessment of the Columbus Police Department, as presented to city council by Jensen Hughes on February 14, 2023.
Yesterday was the single most violent day in Columbus in recent memory. The city experienced two homicides, shots fired at a sheriff’s deputy, and a mass shooting that left nine children — nine— with gunshot wounds.
If we were to judge by the words of city officials last February, complaining about this extreme violence and lack of police leadership to combat the criminal thugs who perpetuate this violence is all somehow just dog-whistling racism designed to dethrone an incompetent chief of police merely because of the color of his skin — which is of course an absolutely absurd, disgusting, and dangerous thing to claim.
Nonetheless, that is precisely what city officials defaulted to last year after 70% of the city’s entire police force gave police chief Freddie Blackmon a vote of no confidence in his ability to lead the department, reduce crime, and treat officers fairly.
Instead of addressing the professional concerns of the overwhelming majority of the entire police department, city officials chose to wrongfully assume that some unidentified racism was somewhere out in the ether.
At the time, three official studies had already proved that disgusting claim of racism wrong, though city officials used the assumption of racism as a shield from which to hide behind anyway.
Now, one year later, and after a world-class study from none other than Jensen Hughes was presented to city council on Feb. 14, 2023, four studies now show how insanely and disgustingly wrong it was of our city’s leaders to ignore their public safety officers while choosing to call them all ‘racist’ instead.
Here’s a brief summary of what each of those studies found — and none of it mentions the word ‘racism.’
CSU SWOT ANALYSIS
Back in 2021, the Columbus Police Department under the command of Chief Freddie Blackmon realized it was having some very serious internal problems. In response, and with the help of Columbus State University, the department conducted a SWOT analysis; a process of evaluating an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. At that time all the way back in 2021, Blackmon had written documentation from this SWOT analysis in his personal possession that identified extreme concerns from his own officers regarding low pay, low morale, micromanagement, poor leadership, lack of communication, and severe staffing issues. Again, this was known by Blackmon all the way back in 2021.
RETENTION COMMITTEE STUDY
After the officers’ concerns continued to go unanswered, an internal retention committee was formed within CPD to identify ways the department might keep more of its officers on the force. The results of that committee’s findings were published in a seven-page memorandum addressed to Chief Blackmon himself. The committee’s findings identified that officers were largely leaving the department due to serious concerns with the department’s leadership, the micromanagement of the command staff, a lack of communication, a lack of appreciation, feelings of not being supported by their leadership, and a lack of trust both for their leadership and from them. The memorandum specifically cites the example of Chief Blackmon wrongfully telling the city that the department was “only 30 officers short and all beats were covered,” which has been both statistically and experientially proven to have been a bald-faced lie from Blackmon. The false claim from Blackmon largely eroded trust within the department, which was most clearly stated in the memorandum through a quote, which stated: “People don’t leave jobs, they leave supervisors.”
According to many officers who have confidentially reached out to the Muckraker, Chief Blackmon responded to the findings of this internal committee by disbanding it entirely, ignoring their published results, and increasing the same type of behavior the committee identified in its findings. According to those same officers, Blackmon did this because the findings of the report contradicted previous decisions he had made on how to run the department.
FOP SURVEY
After no actions were taken to produce measurable change within Blackmon’s police department, the Fraternal Order of Police conducted an additional survey in Feb. 2022. The survey asked 232 officers of the department — 73% of the entire force overall — a series of questions about several perceived issues under Blackmon’s command. The survey found that nearly every single officer — 99% of those asked in some cases — held extreme concerns for the department under the command of Chief Freddie Blackmon. Officers voiced that they did not feel there were enough officers in the department overall, nor enough patrolling the streets at any given time. Officers said they felt they would not receive adequate backup in an emergency situation as a result of this low staffing. More noticeably, the survey revealed that almost every officer in the department had a serious concern for a lack of leadership within Blackmon’s department in one way or another. When asked the question directly, 84% of the officers surveyed stated they did not have confidence in Blackmon’s ability to lead the department in a manner that provides for fair treatment of officers, officer safety, and reduced crime in the city. Only 5% said they had at least some confidence, 8.3% were undecided, and 2.3% declined to answer.
Not only did these numbers reveal their answers on their faces, but also revealed the taboo nature of discussing the issues out of fear of retaliation; 10.6% of the officers surveyed chose not to provide an answer to the yes-or-no question they volunteered to be asked.
JENSEN HUGHES
After no measurable changes were made within the department as it continued to erode under Blackmon’s command, and after city leaders erroneously responded to the concerns of nearly the city’s entire police force, a private group of community leaders took it upon themselves to fund a world-class study of the Columbus Police Department through Jensen Hughes.
The findings of that study, titled the Operational Assessment of the Columbus, GA Police Department, were presented to city council on Feb. 14, 2023 by Sydney Roberts, JD, of Jensen Hughes.
The largest observable metric through which the department’s internal problems have manifested is in the insanely low rates of officer retention. From 2016 through the present, the department has had 400 officers walk off the job; an average of 49 officers per year. Since Blackmon took over as chief, that yearly average nearly doubled to 84 officers quitting in 2021.
The firm’s report also found issues that coincided with the FOP’s stated concerns from back in February of 2022, specifically that Blackmon micromanages his workforce, does not permit officers to have the autonomy required to do their jobs effectively, and communicates poorly throughout the entire department.
The report cites that officers had a “general feeling of distrust” towards Blackmon, again naming his poor communication skills as a reason behind their lack of confidence.
Poor morale, incomparably-low pay, and a genuine sense of Blackmon’s poor leadership were the three repeated themes throughout the more than 130-page report.
As was politely stressed almost an uncountable number of times by Roberts and her colleagues throughout the presentation, the single largest factor driving the problems within CPD is the department’s lack of leadership.
The firm provided the department with a list of 70 recommendations. As we all know, there is a saying that “all that matters is what comes at the end.” The final recommendation presented by Jensen Hughes’ “Key Findings” summary of that 70-item list was this:
“Addressing the development of leadership within the organization is critical for future success.”
The draft report of Jensen Hughes' findings also discusses the findings of the FOP survey on page 54 of the report, stating:
“Our assessment revealed opportunities for the chief and the union to work together as they both voice similar concerns regarding the department and the city; however, it did not appear that (n)either party currently demonstrates a willingness to reconcile differences and engage in a cohesive working relationship.”
Frankly, that might tend to happen when you go around calling anyone who criticizes you a racist. People might not wish to work with you if you do that. In fact, that’s a really dangerous way to run a city.
DANGEROUS
When the findings of the FOP survey were presented to city council last February, city officials dismissed the concerns altogether while simultaneously labeling 70% of their own city’s police officers as somehow being ‘racist’ for having voiced such complaints.
The disgusting remarks made by city manager Isaiah Hugley and many others could only be summed up in the following satire:
“How dare you all voice your concerns! Clearly, this must be racism, because there is no way he could possibly be incompetent. After all, he is black! How dare you!”
Someone has to say this. Someone has to point out how insanely dangerous that has proven to be.
No one has, and that should seriously concern you.
When our city’s police officers saw a series of legitimate safety concerns for our city, our city’s officials — particularly city manager Isaiah Hugley — saw it as an opportunity to only see color.
Given the findings of Jensen Hughes, the FOP Survey, the Retention Committee Findings, and the CSU SWOT Analysis, it is quite clear that racism had absolutely nothing to do with the serious professional concerns from nearly all the men and women of the Columbus Police Department for the safety of the very city they swore an oath to defend.
This all begs the following question regarding city officials’ wrongful claims of erroneous ‘racism’ over the course of the last two years:
How has that worked out for you?
Perhaps our city’s leaders can provide that answer to the families of the two homicide victims and the nine children shot yesterday.
Our city is on the world stage. Everyone is watching what our leaders choose to do next. Perhaps it is worth considering the future of what we as a city want to have a chance to become. Perhaps we ought to fix our city before it becomes “fixed in time” instead.
The world is watching.
If the words of these harsh realities “offend” you, we really do not care. You can feel free to fill out the following form below and contemplate your own internal challenges. This great city doesn’t deserve to be forced to do it for you:
Back Our Blue.
Ask the hard questions. Fix the hard answers. Rake the muck.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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