COLUMBUS, Ohio — The City of Columbus announced it has a vacant spot on its Civilian Police Review Board, which more than half of Columbus voted to have in November 2020.

Two years ago, the ballot initiative came from a recommendation by the Columbus Safety Advisory Commission. The board's first job is to review complaints of police misconduct.

“We learned the use of force policies, there was implicit bias training that we all had to go through,” said Board Member Dr. Chenelle Jones. “We had to do ride alongs so we could see what an officer goes through on a day to day basis on their job.” 

There are currently nine members on the board with various backgrounds. Each board member serves staggered three-year terms and are limited to two consecutive terms.

Recently the mayor's office announced a vacancy on the board.

“The overarching goal of the civilian police review board is to restore trust in law enforcement by ensuring transparent investigations and holding officers who have done wrong accountable for their actions,” said Janet Jackson, who serves as board chair. “It is our great honor to serve the public in this capacity, and we invite anyone who may be interested in joining the board to submit an application for consideration.”

The board was confirmed last April. It is still in its early stages and have not performed its first investigation. Jones said the board itself is a step in the right direction.

“It's been very rewarding work,” said Jones. “We did all the preliminary work with all the training, learning about laws, policies and procedures and things like that and so now the work of investigations is going to start taking place. Only time will tell, of what that whole process looks like, but we are still actively building that out.” 

The Civilian Police Review Board will meet Tuesday to learn about investigation procedures and it is open to the public. If you are interested in applying, you can visit their website here.