COLUMBUS, Ohio – The next police chief of Columbus must come from outside the agency and through a national search, community activists critical of policing in Ohio's largest city insisted Friday.
Former Chief Thomas Quinlan, demoted Thursday by Mayor Andrew Ginther, was a 30-year member of the agency and was unlikely to make the big changes needed because of his career there, the activists said. “We need someone who can come with a fresh lens that didn’t grow up in the culture of Columbus Division of Police or the culture of policing within the state of Ohio,” said Chanelle Jones, a dean of community engagement at Franklin University and a member of a police reform commission convened two years ago by Ginther.