Columbus Civilian Police Review Board selects new chair as Jackson prepares to step back

The Columbus Civilian Police Review Board has promoted its vice chair to be its next chairperson.

Janet Jackson, who has served as chair since the board's inception in 2021, had indicated last month she did not want a second term on the board. Her term is set to expire on April 30.

The eight current members of the board — which is three members short of the 11 members the board is supposed to have — voted at their meeting Wednesday to appoint Brooke Burns, who now serves as the board's vice chair, as the next chair.

Burns is the chief counsel for the Juvenile Department for the Ohio Public Defender's office. While she abstained from the vote, the other seven members unanimously selected her to take over Jackson's role. Burns will begin her work as chair on May 1.

Jackson, a retired Franklin County Municipal Court judge and former Columbus City Attorney, did not elaborate on her decision to leave the board during Wednesday's meeting, but noted she had missed the last meeting in early March because of a health issue.

Also during Wednesday's meeting, the board discussed how new members would be selected. Jackson said her understanding, after speaking with members of Mayor Andrew J. Ginther's staff and City Council President Shannon Hardin, was that Ginther would need to appoint all members of the board and council would approve those appointments.

When the board was created in 2021, following an amendment to the city's charter that was approved by voters in November 2020, City Council and Ginther both appointed members to the review board. Jackson said Hardin had told her that he felt that move was "inappropriate" by City Council.

Jackson also said that new members who are brought on to the board will not be able to be voting members until they have completed all required training. That requirement is laid out in the charter amendment creating the board.

Jackson read from the charter, which says that members of the board will hold their seat until their successor has been chosen, qualified and installed.

Members of the board serve a three-year term as a volunteer, with an option for a second three-year term. At the board's inception, some members were given terms of two years to stagger terms. Jackson was among those.

There are currently three vacancies on the board and Jackson's departure will create a fourth vacancy.

Inspector General Jacqueline Hendricks told the board during Wednesday's meeting that her office has processed more than 600 complaints about city police officers in its first six months. Not every complaint has resulted in a full investigation being done, and there was no information available on how many investigations that were approved by the review board had resulted in discipline against officers.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Civilian Police Review Board selects new chairperson