The Columbus PD Has Some Explaining to Do

Like most Ohioans, I’ve been frequenting our state’s capital for as long as I can remember. As a child, multiple family members of mine lived in Columbus and we would often take the two hour drive up I-71. In my teenage years, my friends and I even attended the Major League Gaming tournament at the Columbus Convention Center. In the end, we all agreed Columbus sucked and was just another highly segregated city where corruption flows like wine. Due to the state’s legislature and governor operating out of Columbus, the city is known for being one of the most corrupt in Ohio. When I personally think of Columbus, I think of a city that is devoid of a soul. But before I trash an entire city and their police department, I do appreciate their ability to elect Democrats. With all of that being said, it's time to focus on Columbus’ incredibly incompetent and corrupt police department.

I began following the comings and goings of the Columbus PD in 2018 when four police officers illegally and improperly arrested adult film actress, Stormy Daniels at a Columbus strip club. If you’re not familiar with the story, four Republican officers who were upset at Stormy’s attempt to bring down Donald Trump arrested her for “touching” patrons at a strip club. Naturally, Stormy sued the City of Columbus and settled for $450,000. The charges were ultimately dropped and two of the officers were fired and the other two were suspended for several weeks.  The Columbus PD vice unit was disbanded and the tax payers were ultimately on the hook for the outrageous behavior of four incompetent police officers. But that’s not the end of the Columbus PD wasting tax payer money.

It was discovered that in the early hours of April 17th, 2021 a Columbus PD helicopter went joyriding over predominantly black neighborhoods at 1:00 AM and spelled out “CPD” with it’s flightpath. The Columbus Police Department put out a statement saying that this joyride only took 10 minutes and “no additional fuel was utilized,” so all is well. Except when you look at a map of segregated Columbus and where the majority of African Americans live, this helicopter flew directly over the minority majority neighborhoods at 1:00 in the morning in an attempt to most likely intimidate them. It’s not really a secret that police departments exist to “protect and serve” white Americans and the ruling class. The Columbus PD doesn’t even attempt to hide their contempt for black people and that’s what’s so wild to me.

Less than 24 hours later on the evening of April 17th and early morning hours of April 18th, the Columbus PD again prove why they should be defunded. A large block party known as “Chittfest” occurs annually every Spring when Ohio State holds their Spring football game. Chittfest appears to be a very large block party of drunk college students that occurs just off Ohio State’s campus on Chittenden Avenue. Based on pictures from previous year’s Chittfest, the Columbus PD seem to be active participants in and encourage the big party of underage drinking. Chittfest didn’t happen in 2020 due to the fact OSU didn’t hold a spring football game due to COVID-19. But despite the ongoing pandemic, OSU held their annual spring football game yesterday and Chittfest turned into what looks to be a total riot. Students flipped and destroyed at least 7 cars and vandalized property all night long and believe it or not, no arrests were made. According to Columbus’ Channel 10 WBNS, the area was barricaded off and the OSU students were free to have the time of their life starting fires and flipping cars. Quite a different approach the Columbus PD took last night opposed to the Black Lives Matter protests that happened in the Summer of 2020. Columbus PD were known to be some of the most aggressive nationally against BLM protesters, beating them with batons, their police bikes and using copious amounts of pepper spray.

Naturally, those BLM protesters were usually people of color while the OSU crowd was made up of white college students. This is a prime example of what white privilege is. Destroying cars and starting fires in the name of Ohio State Football is totally kosher in the Columbus PD’s mind, but peacefully protesting against police brutality is a no-go. Again, the police departments across this country continue to show us who they are and what they believe in and the citizenry is forced to swallow it without any recourse. Our state should be ashamed of the way the Columbus PD operates and I really feel for the citizens of Columbus who are subject to the abuse of the Columbus PD. I would say it’s time for all of us to move, but maybe it’s time we start working to reform this god forsaken state from the inside. To view Snapchat footage of OSU students destroying cars and lighting fires, click here.