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COLUMBUS, Ga. — In another special edition of The Weekend Muck, we take a deeper look at the Operational Assessment of the Columbus Police Department, as presented to city council by Jensen Hughes.
The week following the presentation saw an additional five CPD officers resign, as well as the single most violent two-day period in the city’s recent memory.
In addition to two other separate homicides, a mass shooting left nine children — nine — bloodied and helpless from gunshot wounds on Warm Springs Road on Friday night.
A sheriff’s deputy was also shot at in the course of their duties earlier that same day.
In our estimation — and this number is not final — but there appear to have been no less than 16 people shot in Columbus since Friday night. In all honesty, there have been so many that it has been difficult to track in real-time; the number just keeps growing.
WARNING: The following few paragraphs contain scenes of graphic violence and gore that may not be suitable for all readers. The reader’s discretion is advised.
Several other shootings ravaged the city the following day, in addition to another horrific mass shooting that left four people shot at the Motel 6 on Victory Drive, wreaking havoc on the lives of Columbus residents. Two of those victims were pronounced deceased.
The scene involved what could only be described as horrifically grotesque, as bodies were carried out by their arms and legs, blood pouring from their wounds. One of those victims was a four year old child.
These are the things our city’s leaders pretend do not exist — yet these are the very real realities of what that the brave men and women of the Columbus Police Department continue to run toward each and every day for the people of our city so that you don’t have to.
These are the monsters that make nightmares. These officers valiantly run towards them anyway, from call to call, relentlessly. Thanklessly. Leaderless.
Perhaps our city’s leaders ought to remember how sheltered they are from the blood, the gore, and the gunpowder they pretend does not exist. We look to them to lead this city, and we believe in them to make the right decisions. Our city isn’t just bleeding; it is bleeding out, and it needs a tourniquet.
WHY OUR CITY’S LEADERS MIGHT BE A GROUP OF F***ING MORONS
This isn’t an opinion piece. It is an objectively-defendable observation of hard news.
When we say our city’s leadership might be a group of f***ing morons, we do in fact mean precisely that — and the English language supports our objective observation.
Merriam-Webster defines a moron as “a foolish or stupid person.” The same source also defines the word foolish as “having or showing a lack of good sense, judgment, or discretion,” and stupid as “marked by or resulting from unreasoned thinking or acting.”
According to a study published by the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the use of profanity demonstrates a lesser amount of deception and a higher amount of integrity. In short: using profane adjectives more honestly and bluntly gets one’s point across without deceptively mincing one’s words.
So what have our leaders objectively done which we have observed to be f***ing moronic?
The list is long, so buckle up:
If you ignore the voices of 70% of your city’s entire police force who say they have no confidence in the demonstrated lack of leadership ability of their own Chief of Police, you might be a f***ing moron.
If you then label their legitimate professional concerns for the city’s safety as “racism,” you might be a f***ing moron.
Explore the full story to see the rest of the list.
ANOTHER FORMER COLUMBUS COP SPEAKS UP
This is the sixth exclusive insider article that the Muckraker has published giving voice to officers of the Columbus Police Department.
In response to our previous reporting, a former Columbus Police Officer who recently left the department came forward to speak about why hundreds of officers continue to leave the department over its leadership issues.
The officer made a chilling statement in their message to the Muckraker, saying that one day soon “you will dial 911 and just get a busy signal because there is no one left to send.”
Hear the officer’s own words for yourself in their exclusive message below.
Note: The message below is one of many pieces of vetted correspondence received by the Muckraker from officers of the Columbus Police Department. It has been slightly edited for both grammar and content to maintain the strict anonymity of the officer.
“I worked with and for Chief Blackmon for many years. Blackmon was in charge of a particular unit while I was on it. I have many years of law enforcement experience with CPD and an entire career in the military before that.
I've dealt with large crowds and angry mobs in Iraq. Through that experience, I’ve gained a very good idea of what dangerous incompetence looks like. That said, the level of incompetence that Blackmon gives off and the danger it poses is incredible. He doesn’t understand very basic concepts. He tries to explain what he wants us to do, but he is so inarticulate that you can barely understand what he is saying. If you asked him to clarify what he meant, he would then tell you something completely different than what he had just said…”
Explore the full story to hear the rest of what the officer had to say.
JENSEN HUGHES PRESENTS FINDINGS TO CITY COUNCIL; VALIDATES OFFICERS’ CONCERNS
This is the first 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.
One year ago, their legitimate concerns were dismissed as “racism.” Today, it’s quite clear they were anything but. The officers of the Columbus Police Department are now having their voices taken seriously by city officials — and the scapegoat word of “racism” is finally nowhere to be found.
During the city council meeting held yesterday, representatives of the firm Jensen Hughes formally presented their findings of a world-class study of the department’s entire operation. Throughout this five part series, we’re going to take a look at the intricacies of the presentation and its findings, the follow-up presentation given by police chief Freddie Blackmon, and the reactions from our city officials.
We’ll start by breaking down the detailed presentation delivered by Jensen Hughes in today’s article, and then take a look at Chief Blackmon’s follow-up presentation tomorrow — including a bit of a look at what he could have done differently, but chose not to.
Here’s what happened during the Jensen Hughes presentation, along with our take on the entirety of the situation at the very end of this article.
Explore the full story to see a detailed breakdown of the world-class presentation from the nation’s premiere law enforcement consulting agency.
CHIEF BLACKMON DEFENDS FAILURES; SAYS ‘CHILI COOKOFF’ WILL SAVE OUR POLICE DEPT
This is the second 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.
Immediately after that world-class study vindicated the years-long concerns of officers for their chief’s ability to lead the department — specifically an absence of leadership, communication, trust, and published procedural policy on how to combat the city’s rising gang violence — police chief Freddie Blackmon took to the podium and provided city council with an update on the department.
Blackmon began his remarks in a soft-spoken voice that projected the absolute opposite of leadership presence. His tone, speech patterns, demeanor, and body language all presented a lack of confidence in himself — which was readily-detectable by his own officers seated behind him in the council chamber.
At no point did Blackmon choose to turn around and speak to his own officers seated ten feet behind him, nor did he thank them for their attendance of the meeting and their own support for the department during their off-time. Instead, Blackmon chose to further himself by playing a political move of self-defense, creating a guise of self-righteousness by thanking the local businesses who funded the Jensen Hughes study.
Blackmon then presented slides showing the turnover rate of sworn police officers within the department from 2016 to the present. Ironically, the data Blackmon presented not only showed those failures during his time as chief, but also displayed how deeply the department suffered under his leadership when he was in charge of the Office of Professional Standards prior to becoming chief.
Instead of providing city council with any sort of strategic plan to enact the recommendations of Jensen Hughes — which Blackmon has been in possession of since November of last year — Blackmon provided slides of statistical crime and police employment retention data in an effort to defend his now- objectively-measurable failures that were just highlighted by Jensen Hughes ten minutes prior.
No actionable plan was presented by Blackmon to rectify the serious problems within his department that he himself had briefed to city council, despite the fact that he has been in possession of Jensen Hughes’ report since November of last year.
It genuinely appeared as if Blackmon believes his job as chief is to merely collect and display statistics, without realizing that his responsibility is to actually lead the department to improve the numbers on the slides.
Explore the full story to see our professional recommendations on how Blackmon should have realistically begun thinking about the strategic future of the department when he was hired more than two years ago.
HERE’S HOW CHIEF BLACKMON SHOULD HAVE RESPONDED TO JENSEN HUGHES FINDINGS
“To get the best out of your men, they must feel that you are their real leader and must know that they can depend upon you.” — Gen. John J. Pershing.
This is the third 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.
The way in which Blackmon chose to react to that presentation — the deliberate actions he chose to take in that moment — serve to prove the truth of a fundamental principle of martial prowess: we do not ever rise to the occasion, but rather we fall to the lowest level of our training. We fall to our default.
As demonstrated by Blackmon’s own actions in that moment of stress, Blackmon’s default sought to defend his own failures instead of taking responsibility for the department’s woes while inspiring his troops to help him change them. He placed his own maslowian needs first instead of placing the needs of his troops above his own. He took actions he believed would prioritize his own political position instead of even bothering to turn around and let his officers know they are heard and understood.
Blackmon defaulted to self-preservation as his officers watched. This is not something that listening to Tony Robbins audiobooks nor hiring an on-the-job “leadership coach” can fix. This is a complete lack of the most basic concepts of leadership. These are things that one develops over the course of an entire career, from the bottom-up. They are not the sort of things one simply learns when they are already at the top — and they especially cannot all-of-a-sudden be willfully implanted into someone who has already eroded the trust and confidence of those he was supposed to lead.
For two years, Chief Blackmon has deliberately chosen not to listen to his own officers while simultaneously avoiding the most basic burdens of leadership. He continues to place his own needs above those of his troops. This default response — as has been unchanged for two years — continues to be demonstrated to this day.
Explore the full story to see our professional recommendation through an example of how Chief Blackmon should have responded to his troops in the wake of the presentation by Jensen Hughes.
HERE’S HOW OFFICIALS ARE CHOOSING TO RESPOND TO POLICE STUDY FINDINGS
“Always do everything you ask of those you command.” — Gen. George S. Patton.
This is the fourth 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.
According to officers of the Columbus Police Department who have confidentially reached out to the Muckraker, as well as several other additional sources who have corroborated the same information, five more officers have resigned from the department since that presentation early Tuesday morning. Four of those officers have gone on to work for the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office.
The resignations come after police chief Freddie Blackmon chose to defend his failures in front of his own officers immediately following Jensen Hughes’ presentation to city council.
Most city council members, however, have finally appeared to see the writing on the walls. It appears that Tuesday morning’s presentations — along with Blackmon’s unchanged behavior — may have finally allowed city officials to see why falsely accusing 70% of their police force as somehow being “racist” might have been a bad idea.
Several city councilors were unbelievably dead-set on forgoing accountability — for anyone — suggesting that the public simply “not point fingers” at the single man whose sole responsibility it was to not land the city in the position it is currently in. If city officials wish to create accountability within the police department, they ought to first seek it in themselves. The public is watching you. Closely. We all already see the egg on your face. Don’t accidentally stick your foot in your mouth trying to wipe it off. You will lose more public support than you already have.
Some councilors seemed to believe that they might simply hire a “leadership coach” to teach Chief Blackmon the very skills that were a requirement of the position the very day city council voted to confirm his appointment as chief.
Nonetheless, city council has unanimously voted to give police chief Freddie Blackmon until March 14 to present council with his strategic plan for the department. It is unclear what may occur at that time, though it is likely that officers will continue to resign from the department until the leadership issue is corrected.
This does, of course, beg the question: If city council just unanimously admitted Blackmon does not possess the leadership skills required to lead the department, then why did you hire him?
Explore the full story to see a verbatim transcript of what our city’s leaders had to say in response to both the presentation from Jensen Hughes and Chief Blackmon’s subsequent follow-up.
LAST YEAR, OFFICIALS CLAIMED RACISM; FOUR STUDIES NOW PROVE THEM WRONG
“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.
Explore the full story to see what those four studies are, along with a brief summary of what each of the four documents revealed over the course of two years.
THE WEEK AHEAD
In the coming week, we at the Muckraker would like to take the time to strongly advise the following:
Keep the faith, Columbus. We will get through these challenges, but we must do so diligently and with purpose. Hopefully, our city’s leadership will choose not to just place another band-aid over the wound that is our city, but will instead choose to give it the proper surgical procedure it needs to survive.
Stay safe. Stay alert. Stay alive.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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