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COLUMBUS, Ga. — The Columbus Police Department held its Inaugural Family Fun Day after receiving an outpour of support from officers and the community at-large to help bring the event to life.

The newly-created annual event was a massive success, bringing over 400 RSVP’d law enforcement attendees and their families to Cascade Hills Church this weekend on September 9, 2023.

A simple search on social media will flood your results with images and posts by attendees from all over the city.

The successful event also comes on the heels of CPD exceeding its recruitment goals, further demonstrating the tremendous shifts experienced by the department in the past four months.

Families of our city’s police force and the larger public safety community all came together to enjoy a day of fellowship rooted in their common dedication to the law enforcement profession. The beautifully-sunny day included a huge cookout, outdoor games, bounce houses for the kids, and even a dunk tank manned by the department’s own Deputy Chief Lance Deaton.

The event’s turnout, community support, and overwhelming success made it abundantly clear that CPD’s morale, culture, and unit cohesion are miles above where they were just a few short months ago. 

Back in August, CPD Interim Chief Stoney Mathis publicly announced the department’s plans for the event in hopes of reinforcing the already-strong sense of community and cohesion that has begun to become the norm within  the department.

According to Mathis, past experiences initially caused some naysayers to suggest that such an event wouldn’t likely receive much support. Those sentiments were quickly outweighed by the overwhelming support from officers themselves and the Columbus community at-large.

To help finance and organize the event, Mathis helped lead the department to start a simple fundraiser in hopes of collecting a few dollars for some hamburgers, hot dogs, buns, and coleslaw.

That fundraiser very quickly received about $22,000 in donations, which were later approved for acceptance by a vote of city council on August 22.

During that city council meeting, councilors asked Mathis to speak a bit about the event, the donations received, and the event’s importance to the Columbus Police Department.

Mathis offered the following:

“Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak. This event is something that we’re trying to put together to build camaraderie; to build and change the culture within the police department. It started off that we were just going to invite the police officers and we had a lot of discussion, and I was told that we wouldn’t have a very good response — both with the fund raising and with the response  from the police officers themselves, simply because within the police department, during a period of time, there was a lot of infighting and they just didn’t think that the police officers would get together on their own time. So we started the fund raiser. We’ve already raised about $22,000 for basic picnic supplies: hamburgers, hot dogs, coleslaw, baked beans. We’re going to have a couple of the jump houses for the kids. We’re going to have some cornhole — and to-date, I have approximately 400 people that have already RSVP'd to be there. So this is going to be a very spectacular event. … Of course, all the dignitaries were invited. I’ve invited all the other law enforcement department heads, their command staffs, and their families. Again, because we’re trying to reach across the aisles and continue to build positive relationships — not only within the police department, but within the city.”

Given the wide array of positive feedback posted online by attendees themselves, it is quite clear those plans to build & reinforce unit cohesion have worked — and they didn’t work because the event was held, but rather quite the opposite: the only reason anyone attended and supported the event was because that unit cohesion was already in place.

With over 400 people in attendance and tens of thousands of dollars raised in advance, it’s safe to say the proof is in the pudding when it comes to CPD’s leadership providing common purpose, direction, and genuine unity for our city’s police force.

All police officers are entitled to outstanding leadership — and the evidence shows that’s exactly what the Columbus Police Department now has.

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

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