Residents are strongly encouraged to express their concerns and condolences for the brave men and women of the Columbus Police Department by emailing Mayor Skip Henderson directly at SkipHenderson@columbusga.org, while cc’ing their respective city council members on the email.

If you’re an officer or employee of the Columbus Police Department and wish to voice your opinions on the current state of the department, please reach out to the Muckraker. We will privately verify your credentials and will not publish your identity.

COLUMBUS, Ga. — An Assistant Chief of the Columbus Police Department was wrongfully removed from the recent city council meeting on March 14, 2023.

The incident was recorded in the minutes of the CPD’s Command Staff Meeting on Wednesday, March 15.

The meeting hosted the long-awaited presentation of police chief Freddie Blackmon’s ‘strategic plan’ for the department, which was ordered of him by city council after his years of leadership failure.

Assistant Chief Debra Kennedy was ordered by Blackmon to attend the meeting. As such, Kennedy stood next to Blackmon along the back wall of the council chambers.

It was at that point that a deputy of the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office told Kennedy she was not permitted to stand and that she must immediately leave the council chambers.

Kennedy informed the deputy that she was the Assistant Chief of CPD and was here under orders. 

The MCSO deputy forced her to leave anyway, reiterating that she was not permitted to stand in the back of the council chambers. Blackmon, however, was not harassed and permitted to remain.

However, that rule would not be equally applied to all attendees and was allowed to be broken by a seemingly-favored political activist. 

At the very same instant that Kennedy voluntarily exited the council chambers, NAACP President Wane Hailes entered the room, walked right by Kennedy as she exited, and quite literally took her place standing along the wall next to Chief Blackmon: the very same spot Kennedy was just wrongfully removed from. 

Hailes remained standing in the back of the council chambers and was not at all harassed or questioned by the MCSO deputies. 

Kennedy, however, was forced to remain outside of the chambers and was not permitted reentry. 

Here’s what one source told the Muckraker about the incident:

“Asst. Chief Kennedy and other members of the Command Staff were ordered to attend (the council meeting) by Blackmon. She arrived to find the room full.  She took a place standing against a rear wall.  Major (Redacted For Privacy) approached her and told her she could not stand and since there were no empty seats she would have to wait outside.  As she was leaving, Wane Hailes walked in the door as she was going out.  Hailes was allowed to enter and stand against the back wall right beside Blackmon.”

Perhaps our city’s leaders ought to consider how disgustingly obvious their selective enforcement is to their constituents, particularly as it pertains to the racially-motivated ploys of their political games.

Better yet: perhaps they ought to question how willing they are to subject themselves to a federal lawsuit citing Section 1 of the 14th Amendment, specifically the part about “nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

We wonder which non-elected city officer who sits at the audience’s left-hand side of the council bench may have had something to do with this illegal action. We also wonder what his motivations and rogue agenda may be. 

We wonder. 

Residents are strongly encouraged to express their concerns and condolences for the brave men and women of the Columbus Police Department by emailing Mayor Skip Henderson directly at SkipHenderson@columbusga.org, while cc’ing their respective city council members on the email.

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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