Details coming in community engagement process on police

The city may hire consulting firms to help manage and lead a community engagement process on the future of Columbia Police Department.

Councilman Ian Thomas said at Monday night’s city council meeting that he expected details of the contract between the city, the United Way and New Chapter Coaching to be released at the council’s July 3 meeting. A public hearing and a vote would then be scheduled on July 17.

Thomas proposed the idea of the engagement process in February. The resolution calls for the study and discussion of things like staffing levels, officer morale and community-oriented policing in Columbia. Thomas said if approved in July, the group would begin assembling the people to get the work done.

“Then the process will start right after that with the consultants starting a stakeholder committee and starting to plan an event for probably late November, early December,” Thomas said.

That committee, according to the resolution, would involve residents from both high- and low-crime areas of town, groups with expertise in “race relations, implicit bias and community-oriented policing” and members of several public agencies in Columbia.

Some groups have opposed the thought of a property tax increase to hire more police officers without a clear idea of what the CPD’s community policing model is. Right now, the city has six officers dedicated to three neighborhoods, with the promise of two more on the way. Members of the advocacy group Race Matters, Friends say the community engagement process should not be afraid to tackle race as a topic.

“I think it’s really important when you have facilitators that they have experience in racial reconciliation and social justice,” Race Matters, Friends President Traci Wilson-Kleekamp said Monday.

Details like the price of of such work would come out when the city council’s agenda is made public, often on the Friday before the meeting. New Chapter Coaching, a leadership consulting firm in Columbia, is already helping the city with its strategic plan. Carolyn Sullivan often leads the neighborhood meetings throughout the city, aimed at figuring out what problems exist and what the city can do to help.