Challenges and Opportunities in Law Enforcement

Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs will be discussing her 40 year career, changes she has seen over the years, innovations that have worked, and perhaps, some that have not, as well as the future of policing and what it may look like in a few to several years. She will discuss where she believes law enforcement is heading into the future including her take on recent tools that have emerged like body cameras, electronic monitoring, and the use of technology in investigations. Chief Kim Jacobs holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from The Ohio State University and was a 4-year letter winner for the OSU Women's Track team. She is a graduate of the Police Executive Leadership College (PELC), the Certified Law Enforcement Executive program (CLEE) and the FBI’s National Executive Institute. Chief Jacobs was appointed by the Governor to serve as a Commissioner on the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission, is a Board Member for the Major Cities Chiefs Association, sits on the Board of Directors for the Center for Family Safety and Healing, and is a member of the Police Executive Research Forum and United Way's Women's Leadership Council and Pride Council. Chief Jacobs entered the Columbus Division of Police in October, 1979. This was only four years after the Division first started training women to work in Patrol. She was the first woman in the Division to be promoted to Commander in 1995, to Deputy Chief in 2009 and to Chief of Police in 2012. Throughout her career, Chief Jacobs has been actively involved in numerous projects to improve operations and as an instructor at the Division's Academy for numerous supervisor development, in-service and recruit classes. Among those accomplishments are her work in helping to set up and start the Division's Citizen Police Academy, the creation of a fifth radio talk group to reduce congestion on the radio, the creation of a separate Domestic Violence report when the new law went into effect, the complete reorganization of Internal Affairs to investigate all citizen complaints, implementing hands-on drivers training during in-service training for the first time, serving as host for President Obama when he appeared at the graduation ceremony for the 114th recruit class and in 2009-2010, putting together a new staffing and redistricting plan which included adding two new precincts. As Chief of Police, she was asked and testified to the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, created civilian Bureau Managers for key professional positions, expanded community engagement activities and use of social media, and with financial support from the Columbus Police Foundation, initiated taking over 150 Division personnel on field trips to Washington, D.C. to visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the new National Museum of African American History and Culture for the training purpose of understanding the important role of the police in protecting Human and Civil rights.