Four finalists for Columbus' first Inspector General to speak at community town hall

A virtual town hall will be held Jan. 20 to introduce Columbus to the four finalists vying to become the city's first Inspector General, who will oversee investigations into misconduct by city police.

The town hall will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on the city's YouTube and Facebook pages, as well as on CTV.

The four candidates who will be participating are Pamela Davis, David Harper, Jacqueline Hendricks-Moore and Rena Shak.

Prior coverage: Columbus has 29 applicants for first Inspector General investigating police misconduct

Semi-finalists named: Pool of candidates for Columbus' first police Inspector General narrowed to 13

The finalists

The four candidates were picked from an original pool of nearly 30 applicants from across the country. The search firm Ralph Andersen and Associates, which also helped the city in searches for the chiefs of the police and fire divisions, narrowed the pool to a smaller group of 13 before cutting that group to four finalists.

The successful candidate will be chosen by the Civilian Review Board and be appointed by Mayor Andrew J. Ginther to a five-year term. There is an option for a second five-year term.

The Inspector General will be able to hire their own investigators to look into allegations of misconduct by Columbus police.

The Fraternal Order of Police Capitol City Lodge No. 9 is not commenting on the search or the finalists for inspector general.

Two of the four finalists are from Detroit, where Columbus police Chief Elaine Bryant and Assistant Chief LaShanna Potts served before being hired by Columbus in June 2021.

Here are brief summaries of each of the candidates:

Pamela Davis

Davis is the former chief investigator for the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners, and Hendricks-Moore is currently a senior investigator for Detroit's Office of the Inspector General.

According to her application materials, Davis served as the chief investigator for five years before leaving the position in July 2017. She also worked as the Deputy Court Administrator for the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court's family division in Pontiac, Michigan for seven and a half years. Davis holds a doctorate degree in ministry from Drew University in New Jersey.

In her cover letter, Davis wrote that she knows her team, if hired, would have to work with the Fraternal Order of Police and the community to get buy-in for the work that has to be done.

"If selected as Inspector General, I will always provide honest, rather than popular responses," Davis wrote.

Jacqueline Hendricks-Moore

Hendricks-Moore has worked in the Detroit Inspector General's office since 2013, taking that position after retiring as a Detroit police sergeant.

According to her resume, Hendricks-Moore has been involved in a number of investigations in Detroit that have led to significant policy changes, including a change to how city identification badges can be used. While a sergeant for Detroit police, Hendricks-Moore was a member of the Use of Force Investigation Unit, tasked with helping to respond to use of force incidents involving officers.

While a graduate student at Central Michigan University in 2015, Hendricks-Moore was one of six people selected to travel to Seoul, South Korea, to participate in an audit of that city's government and provide recommendations to improve operations.

David Harper

Harper is the appointed Inspector General for the state of Florida's Department of Financial Services.

According to his resume, Harper has been the state's Inspector General since August 2018 and helps oversee investigations into fraud allegations within several state agencies. Prior to going to Florida, Harper served as the Inspector General for Albuquerque, New Mexico, for two years and worked as chief of economic crime investigations for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations for eight years.

In his cover letter, Harper wrote that the Inspector General in Columbus will have many priorities as they come on the job, with one of the most important being a building of trust within the community.

"To accomplish this, there are several essential requirements which include embracing transparency, ensuring accountability, and acting with constant integrity and objectivity in all interactions and processes with community members and City leaders," Harper wrote.

Rena Shak

Shak is the only local candidate. She is a staff attorney for the Franklin County Public Defender's office Common Pleas Court unit. Shak also ran for Franklin County Municipal Court judge in 2021.

According to her resume, Shak has worked at the public defender's office since 2014 and has been in the Common Pleas Court unit since 2016. She is a graduate of Ohio State University and Capital University's law school.

Shak said in her application materials that she grew up in an immigrant family and has a unique outlook on helping others with diverse backgrounds, an understanding also boosted by working with clients who are largely unable to afford their own attorneys and statistically more likely to end up involved with law enforcement.

"My office has a deep appreciation for the need for responsible and effective community policing," Shak wrote. "There is a critical need to work toward more-responsible policing tactics, which means holding those accountable for wrongdoing, while encouraging ethical policing practices."

Got questions for the candidates?

Questions for the candidates may be submitted through email to civilianreviewboard@columbus.gov in advance of the town hall or during the event.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Four finalists named for first Columbus Inspector General position