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COLUMBUS, Ga. — Sentiments are beginning to reveal an optimistic future for the Columbus Police Department, with the words of the city’s mayor now supporting the principles of the Muckraker’s own published approach for building a newly-unified and highly-effective police force.

Yesterday, we opened our story with a message to our City’s Finest. Before we get to the details of this article, we would like to take the opportunity to republish our message again today as it heavily relates to the article below. 

TO OUR FORCE

To the men and women of the Columbus Police Department:

Over the past several months, you have tested your mettle against unprecedented levels of violent crime. Still, you have held the line. 

Through the austere challenges presented by the absence of unified leadership, you have courageously found ways to lead each other. You held the line. 

Against staggering odds the likes of which would have utterly destroyed the will of most, you valiantly chose to wear your shield anyway and defend our city. You held the line. 

NOW HEAR THIS: From this day forward, there has never been a better time to be a Columbus Police Officer.

You have proudly and bravely held the line. Now it’s time to move that line forward, together. 

Will you lend our city your expertise, your wisdom, your professionalism, and your insights?

Will you help guide our city to best harness your power?

Will you help us to seize this rare opportunity to build the single best Police Department in the nation?

If that sounds like a vision worthy of your pristine martial talents, it would really mean a lot to have your hand in its creation.  

There has never been a better time to be a Columbus Police Officer.

Our city looks forward to watching your success.

LESSONS LEARNED

In months past, Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson has continuously stated he was satisfied with the job police chief Freddie Blackmon was doing in leading the department.

Now, Henderson’s words reveal he might well have learned a lesson in the importance of competent martial leadership, particularly given the extreme race-based political fallout that recently resulted from doing the opposite.

In a midday in-station interview with WRBL’s Phil Scoggins on April 7, Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson made statements that appear to completely differ from his historical approach to our city’s martial leadership at the Columbus Police Department — and that’s a good thing.

In fact, Henderson’s statements made during that interview are very coincidentally in-line with the strategic approach developed by us at the Muckraker for rebuilding the Columbus Police Department. 

That approach presented a vision for a unified police force that harnesses the individual power of every officer within the department — through the application of effective leadership — in order to achieve complete and utter dominance over our city’s criminal adversaries. 

The Mayor’s recent words in his WRBL interview now appear to be taking the importance of that approach’s key elements and lines of effort very seriously. 

In his interview with WRBL, Henderson said he plans to meet with officers this morning at roll call, as well as to meet with every patrol officer within the department through the course of the day. 

Henderson also stated that he has already met with the department’s two assistant chiefs and the entire command staff to ensure the department has the resources and administrative methods it needs to continue operations as the department awaits the appointment of a new interim chief.

Since Henderson’s role as mayor also places him as the city’s director of public safety, he will be able to take actions for the department that would normally be performed only by the chief of police, such as signing off on forms and permits. Henderson stated he will be covering-down on those duties, but smartly explained that he would only be taking actions that come recommended in writing from the department’s two assistant chiefs. 

Henderson also stated that the city plans to name a new interim chief of police within the next “day or two,” placing emphasis on how sure city officials want to be in their decision of who they choose to appoint. Wisely enough, Henderson stated that the interim chief must be someone that everyone “feels good about,” and who can also “continue to provide stability.” 

If there was a single takeaway from Henderson’s interview with WRBL, it was that he appears to be placing a very heavy emphasis on instilling a self-replicating leadership model within CPD that focuses on communication, stability, and leading by example.

Henderson’s words do truly appear to be setting the conditions for a new chapter in the history of the Columbus Police Department. 

We look forward to watching the success of our City’s Finest as this newly-realized strong foundational premise of leadership empowers them to build the unified department they so desperately deserve.

There has never been a better time to be a Columbus Police Officer.

Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.

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