Leaders of BREAD, a coalition of 40 diverse faith congregations, met via Zoom on Wednesday, June 10 with Columbus Police Chief Thomas Quinlan, hoping to get his commitment to three specific proposals regarding police reform and building trust with the Black community.
The group says, given the tragic police killings of George Floyd and other unarmed African Americans and the resulting protests, that these measures would improve policing in Columbus and build trust. But they said after 45 minutes of back and forth conversation, there was “little to suggest” Chief Quinlan was serious about creating change or building trust.
The proposals leaders asked Chief Quinlan to take specific action on included:
- A diversion of current police funding to the National Network of Safe Communities, a group of consultants working to stop over-policing practices and improve community trust.
- The authorization and funding of a Columbus City Schools’ School Resource Officer training program through the International Institute for Restorative Practices.
- And urging Columbus City Council to establish a citywide municipal ID program.
“We have been researching since December of 2019 on how to reduce gun violence in our city, and the National Network for Safe [Communities] has produced outstanding results in the cities they have worked with, reducing homicides on an average of 40%,” said James Wynn, co-president of BREAD and one of the leaders that spoke with the police chief.
“The chief said that he was familiar with the program, but would need to further vet it out. We had the understanding that he had shown favor to this program, but that was not his response,” he said.
“We were baffled that he said he knew about NNSC but not the specific proposal for Columbus, because we had been informed that the chief had approved it,” said Cathy Levine, another co-president of BREAD and a part of the conversation. “When we asked about the money, he claimed he didn’t control his own budget. That’s when we realized he was dodging us.”
The group says the only clear commitment from Chief Quinlan was to train every SRO in Restorative Practices, as long as the district requested him to do so. Training in some type of conflict resolution is already required by the current police contract with CCS, and many teachers and staff have already trained under the program.
“Chief Quinlan could have been the hero in this story by demonstrating a strong willingness to work with us whatever the obstacle,” said Wynn. “Chief Quinlan recognized that the department needs to gain more trust within the community, but he missed an opportunity to take the lead and show that he wanted to be that catalyst for change.”
“When you approach anyone with a request, you find out quickly whether the person wants to help or not,” said Levine. She said it was “apparent” the chief had no interest in common ground.
“He only offered to take limited next steps after our spokespeople prodded him extensively,” she said. “It was obvious to the participants that, in our interaction, he had no interest in either considering support of nationally proven initiatives or building trust with the community.”
Columbus Division of Police Diversity Inclusion Liaison Sergeant James Fuqua, when asked for a response, said that Chief Quinlan answered every question that was asked with the information he had available.
“Watching Chief Quinlan, I felt he was thinking, ‘How can I defer and deflect these initiatives?’ not ‘What can I do within my jurisdiction? How can I do my best?’ What I particularly missed was a sense of urgency,” said Cantor Jack Chomsky of Congregation Tifereth Israel synagogue.
BREAD has had a mission to hold city and county leaders accountable for justice and fairness since its inception in 1996. Leaders say there is an urgent need for change, given our current climate.
“Overall, I felt he listened, paid attention, but wanted to delay on two of our action items until more information was received or he talked to more people,” said Wynn. “This is not new, we have seen this before, but we hold out hope that he will respond so we can move forward.”
“We will follow up with the Chief of Police after he has done his homework,” said Levine. “But we will continue to press for a meeting with Mayor Ginther in the coming weeks to seek leadership on these and other pressing problems in our community.”
For more information, visit breadcolumbus.com.