Columbus council gives police raises as protesters demand OSU arrest charges be dropped
Columbus police officers will receive a nearly 16% pay increase between now and December 2025 under a new union contract unanimously passed Monday by the City Council — a deal that will cost the city an extra $80.4 million over three years.
The city said it also extracted concessions from the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge #9 in the deal, including the ability of the police chief to get to make 25% of promotions and appointments onto 14 special units without using seniority.
The deal was approved after dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters shouted "shame" at the nine City Council members for the way law enforcement broke up last Thursday's protest encampment at Ohio State University. Even though Columbus police made no arrests, they did assist in processing prisoners, speakers said.
Shayan Parsai, an Iranian-American who was arrested at the university protest, said his hands were zip-tied behind his back for six hours, a female officer pulled his pants down trying to put the zip-tie on his hands, and a group of arrestees were kept in a hot and cramped transport vehicle outside the jail for a couple hours. After being taken inside the jail and put in a cell, one man passed out and hit his head on a steel wall, he said.
"You dare dehumanize us," Parsai told City Council. "You are the ones who are dehumanizing yourselves."
The jail is run by Franklin County, not the city of Columbus, Council President Shannon Hardin pointed out.
The protesters demanded that the City Attorney's Office drop the charges in Municipal Court. Deputy City Attorney Lara Baker-Morrish said no decisions have been made regarding the cases, which were continued Monday until mid-June. The office will review footage of the protest and proceed with each case fairly, she said.
After the council recessed to lower tensions, most of the crowd decided to leave. When business resumed, there was a large police presence remaining in the hallway just outside the council chamber.
Police contract retroactive
The new police contract is retroactive to December and covers almost 1,850 uniformed officers. The police chief will have the power to skip over a seniority requirement on every fourth appointment to 14 special units, including those dealing with counter terrorism, criminal intelligence, covert support and training posts for recruits and field officers, said Christopher Moses, the city's director of human resources.
If the Council had rejected the police contract, the case would have gone to an independent "factfinder," that would have likely ended up with a new police contract with less innovation, Moses said.
The police union had voted to approve the deal several weeks ago with more than 80% in favor, said Brian Steel, president of the local FOP.
"Obviously, coming off 2020, I use the term 'We had some scar tissue,'" Steel said. "There was major distrust between the city government, the chief's office, the elected mayor, the City Council, and the union. But this is now 2024. We're trying to move on."
Following anti-police, racial justice protests in Columbus that erupted after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd Jr. in Minneapolis, including rioting and vandalism to numerous Dowtown buildings, the city began a major overhaul of both the personnel and tactics used by its police force. A $20-million cash buyout of senior officers as a retirement incentive was hoped to allow the department to start anew, with a different attitude toward policing during civil unrest.
The main benefit to officers from the new contract is the almost 16% pay hike, Steel said.
"The reality is we're having a hard time recruiting folks, we're having a hard time keeping folks," Steel said. "More officers than ever are leaving after their 25-year mark. ... And as we're seeing, we're not getting anybody to take these jobs."
In an effort to help get more candidates, City Council on Monday approved the city Department of Public Safety hiring Gannett Media Corp.'s employment marketing division, in an effort to boost police recruiting. The $89,760 no-bid contract will fund a campaign that will include "email-blasts, Snapchat advertisements, search engine marketing, Facebook advertising, and print in The Columbus Dispatch," according to the city. Gannett is the parent corporation of The Dispatch and the USA TODAY Network.
The city also is entering into six other advertising contracts with various vendors "to reach as many populations as possible in the age range required to be a candidate as a police officer," the ordinance said.
More Colonial Village assistance given
In other business Monday, the council approved another $700,000 to provide housing support and service coordination for the former residents of the Colonial Village apartment complex, bringing the total spent to date by the city on rescuing residents from the complex with various code violations to $4.3 million.
Many of the residents at the East Side complex were Haitian asylum seekers whom officials said had been tricked into coming to Columbus from Florida by a network of human traffickers, only to end up living in units lacking heat and hot water. Many of the 850 adults and 520 children were paying rent under fake rental contracts issued by a management company staff member who was running an off-the-books side business, according to court documents.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police contract comes with double-digit pay raise
