Explanation
1. BACKGROUND
This legislation authorizes the Director of the Department of Public Safety to enter into a professional services contract with the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University (“John Glenn College”) in the amount of up to $250,000.00 for an Independent Operational Review of the City’s Response to the 2020 George Floyd Protest Events in Columbus, OH from May 28, 2020 to July 19, 2020.
The intent of this sponsored research project performed by the John Glenn College is to provide the City of Columbus and the Columbus Division of Police with an independent evaluation of the City’s and police’s handling of the protest events occasioned by the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. The focus will be on the protests and associated responses from May 28, 2020 to July 19, 2020. The John Glenn College is to perform an independent assessment that will capture lessons learned from successes and failures in order to improve future response(s) to similar events. The goals of this research project are to:
1) Identify successes and shortcomings of the City's response to protests from May 28, 2020 to July 19,2020.
2) Evaluate whether public safety and first amendment rights were effectively balanced by law enforcement during these protests.
3) Evaluate whether appropriate types/levels of force, and police tactics, were used to manage and/or to disperse crowds/congregations during the protests.
4) Research the evolving nature of public protests, including the use of social media, and, to the extent possible, the environment and underlying reasons for demonstrations.
5) Review the coordination and management of police personnel and resources during the protests.
6) Evaluate if there was a gap between how the police and the larger City government perceived the protests/protestors, and if so, how this perception gap impacted the response to the protests.
7) Recommend any policy/trainin...
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