COLUMBUS, Ohio — The John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State University released on Monday its review commissioned last summer by city officials, including Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther and City Attorney Zach Klein, to review the city’s response to protests last summer.

The review included the testimony of 170 people, including protesters and police officers. Both sides recalled moments of peaceful protest, but the review showed that was overshadowed by continuous lack of communication.

Prior to the protests, many officers recalled being unaware of the existing tensions between the Black community and the police, and were under the impression that the community found the police helpful. 

Protesters recalled the protests heightening existing tensions, as officers arrived to the scene in riot gear administering various munitions. Both sides found fault with the city’s communication and training procedures.

The report found that the Columbus Division of Police hadn’t been through crowd management training since 2015, and of 1,400 officers dispatched to the scene of protests, many came from years of desk duty, and hadn’t been properly trained to use munitions.

Communication was reportedly a problem within the police department. Officers reported getting different commands depending on who was in charge, and got mixed signals from city officials. 

Communication within the chain of command, affected the communication and relations officers had with protesters. The use of social media was a recommendation that came from the review, saying that it could help facilitate relationships moving forward.

“We believe the city and the police department really need to become much more aggressive, in a good way, with the use of social media” said Trevor Brown, Dean of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. “Really communicate their narrative in what community policing looks like in the City of Columbus.”

Moving forward, the review also recommended the police department and city officials include the community in conversations around policy, practices and policing. A special unit to contact activists before, during and after protests was said to help ease community-police relations.

“There are key leaders who are not necessarily widely known in the city who have the trust of the folks they work with or who know them,” said Carter Stewart, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. “If you can connect to those key leaders, then you can open the door to constructive conversations, but going to the same folks who show up to all of these community meetings for years is not the way to go.”

The review research showed that Columbus police did not follow the National Incident Management Systems protocol, which provides a national standard to deal with emergency situations, widely due to lack of training. 

A lot of the recommendations made by the review will need resources. The hope is that the community will have a voice in how those resources will be allocated.

“The minute we stop is the minute we get in trouble,” said Brown. “We have to always have those voices at the table and we have to always create those opportunities for those voices to be heard and we have to also understand that there’s going to be points of disagreement there may be points of irreconcilable disagreement, but that doesn’t mean we stop.”

 Along with communication and training, clear and active leadership is recommended to help all officers and commanders continue on one accord.

“I think, yes, there needs to be clear leadership at the top of the police department,” said Brown. “Consistent leadership at the top of the police department that’s supported by both elected officials and the community if there’s going to be substantial progress in moving forward around communications and community involvement.”

The full review may be viewed here.