Civilian Review Board Issue Formally Launches Campaign

The campaign to create a Civilian Review Board in the City of Columbus has officially launched. Columbus Issue 2 will establish a Civilian Police Review Board and create an Inspector General for the Columbus Division of Police that will conduct independent investigations into police misconduct.

“Issue 2 will hold law enforcement accountable and puts power in the hands of civilians to investigate allegations of police use of force and other misconduct so we can hold bad police officers accountable and keep our community safe,” reads the press release from the Yes for Issue 2 campaign.

“We must move from a 20th-century law enforcement agency to a 21st-century community policing organization and rebuild trust in our Division of Police,” said Mayor Andrew Ginther, as quoted in the release.

The campaign will seek to build a “broad coalition” of support for the issue ahead of November’s general election.

The issue has support from co-chairs including John Lowe of Jeni’s Ice Cream, Mark Fluharty of AFL-CIO, Bishop Timothy Clarke of First Church of God, Pastor Rich Nathan of Vineyard Columbus, Harrison Poku of Black Excellence, Tanny Crane of Crane Group, Trudy Bartley, Associate Vice President for Local and Community Relations at The Ohio State University and Alex Fischer of the Columbus Partnership, among others.

The issue also has endorsements from the NAACP Columbus, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, Columbus Urban League, Coalition of Black Trade Unionist, Central Ohio Labor Council, Franklin County Democratic Party, Yes We Can Columbus and others.

For more information, visit ColumbusIssue2.com.