Changes are already taking place at the Columbia Police Department under new Chief Michael Kelly.
Those include moving some offices, changing some assignments and asking an investigator for a report of what gangs are operating within the city and what are the major narcotics being traded.
“I have a message for the drug dealers. If you’re an addict, and you’re struggling day to day to get off that addiction and you break in that house to get your next fix, I’m very compassionate about those folks. They need help. That’s a sickness; it’s a disease. It’s not to be taken lightly and I will do whatever it takes to get a person off of addiction,” Kelly said. “But if you’re a drug dealer and you’re causing people to get into addiction and you’re on the street corner selling dope to kids – or when kids step off of a school bus and there are shots being fired near the bus stop – I have no tolerance for that and we’re going to put an end to it. This is going to be a safe city to raise a family and to do business. Those days of the wild, wild west in the city of Columbia streets are going to come to an end.”
Kelly was officially sworn in Friday after being named chief March 12 following the resignation earlier that day of Chief Mike Cooper, who cited a growing towing business he owns and a frustration with a lack of resources as reasons for stepping down.
Kelly said there are many issues to be addressed, especially aging patrol cars.
“When the community drives by, they look in our parking lot and say, ‘Well they don’t need police cars,’” he said. “What they don’t know is that we have eight or 10 cars out here, but over half of them don’t run or have issues. We don’t trust them. You can’t put an officer in something that might get him or her hurt.”
Kelly said one of his priorities is to sell what they can at auction and hopefully buy some “gently used” cars to replace them.
Monday morning brought others changes in offices and renovations to the department, all done in the name of efficiency and transparency, according to Kelly.
“There are some folks that I think their giftings were under-utilized,” he said. “They came to me right away and told me what they were passionate about and I just want to get people doing what they are passionate about. We moved some offices around to meet the public’s needs.”
Besides receptionist Dora Pittman, the chief’s administrative assistant, Susan Ratliff, will now have an office in the front.
“Miss Susan has been here for years and she needs to be up front,” Kelly said. “She needs to be where all of these folks in the community can talk to her, and she was kind of shut up in the back. I moved her out front so she can meet and greet the people along with Miss Dora. I call myself a front door chief. Some chiefs park in the back parking lot and sneak in the back way – I don’t; I’d just rather go in the front door and shake hands.”
Kelly said he has already had a steady stream of calls, visits and texts from pastors, businesspeople and citizens.
“I’ve doing cop work and I love doing administrative stuff, but I love even more talking to folks and finding out what the needs are in the community,” he said. “The welcome has been so warm.”
Kelly is in the process of getting acquainted with all of the officers and their specialties, though he had served as the city’s code enforcement officer since July 2017. He was the Seminary police chief before resigning in March 2017 because of stress and needing more financial security for his family, according to a WDAM report. Kelly had also been serving as deputy director of the Columbia Law Enforcement Training Academy before being appointed Columbia’s chief.
He said his management philosophy is that he wants people to “live their passion.”
“When they are in their passion they operate better and they’re more efficient. I want to empower them to go out and do their jobs. In doing that, I let a few people move around,” he said. “Whether they are a civilian employee or my highest ranking official, I want them to ask themselves four things: Is it legal? Is it ethical? Is it good for the city of Columbia? Is it positive for the police department? If they can say yes to all four of those, don’t even come ask me for permission, go do it.”
Kelly said the changes will continue, and he looks forward to working with Mayor Justin McKenzie, a former longtime CPD officer before being elected last year.
“I tell people that the mayor and I speak the same language. He knows the needs back here better than I do because I’m the new guy. He’s the heartbeat of the department because it was his for so long – working his way up from patrol officer to captain of patrol. He knows every need,” Kelly said. “He came to our command staff meeting this morning and assured every one of our command staff that he is on board and that he will do everything to support us and I believe the Board will as well.”
McKenzie said Kelly was a logical choice f or the job.
“We’re proud to have him as a part of our community and involved with the city,” he said. “He’s done a very good job with our code enforcement, and we look forward to his future service here with the city. He’s got a lot of law enforcement experience and a lot of ties to the community and ties in law enforcement that will certainly benefit him and our department in the city of Columbia.”
Kelly said he is pleased with the department he inherited.
“These people are incredible,” he said. “When you have people like Lt. Pearlie Hendricks, who has been here for 20 years, it’s unheard of to be in law enforcement and be at one agency for that long. It means that she’s bought in. She is over at our school every day loving kids and serving kids. That makes my job easy to know that I have people like that. When you have people like Miss Susan up front, who have been here for decades serving the citizens of Columbia, it makes my job so easy. They are the nuts and bolts – the patrol guys that are staying up all night riding the streets – I’m a personality; they’re making this place work.”
Kelly said he spoke to the officers and staff about their importance to the department.
“I want to breed a culture of encouragement,” he said. “When you have a culture of encouragement, you have productivity. I’m not meaning productivity by officers writing tickets, I mean offices getting involved with the community.
“Doing whatever it takes to keep kids from falling into the gang lifestyle and the drug lifestyle.”
Pictured Above: Michael Kelly speaks after being sworn in as Columbia police chief Friday afternoon at City Hall. | Photo by Charlie Smith
