Mayor Benjamin announces new “Justice for All” initiative

COLUMBIA, SC – Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin was joined by Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook, Members of Council and leaders from across the community to announce his major new “Justice for All” public safety initiative.

“We are committed to building a world class Police Department and in order to do this we must commit to strengthening the foundation of trust and accountability that exists between our communities and our law enforcement agencies,” said Mayor Benjamin. “This is about more than public safety. This is about justice.”

Comprehensive in its approach, the Justice for All initiative focuses on Training, Diversity, Accountability and community Engagement through a series of new and expanded policies which include:

• Providing new and ongoing cultural sensitivity, conflict resolution and de-escalation training.
• Appointing minority community representation on CPD’s police hiring board.
• Establishing a citywide Human Rights Commission.
• Appointing civilian representation to CPD’s Internal Affairs Review Board.
• Publicly publishing an Annual Internal Affairs Report.
• Recording all violent crime suspect interviews.
• Organizing ongoing listening sessions in communities across Columbia.
• Providing body cameras to all uniformed personnel.