OMAA/OML WEBINAR:
POLICE LIABILITY
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH, 10:00AM to 11:00AM
COST: $100 PER REGISTRANT - REGISTRATION LIMITED TO 50 REGISTRANTS PER
SESSION. (There is no CLE credit for these webinars.)
PROGRAM OVERVIEW:
This will be a discussion of Police Liability and related strategies to avoid liability or to at least minimize
damages and embarrassment. I will discuss issues ranging from excessive force to wrongful arrest to
unlawful home entries to First Amendment issues to cruiser involved accidents. I will focus on current case
law and ways through policies, training and supervision to avoid or minimize the types of
constitutional/civil violations identified in recent cases. I will focus on the broad range of the most recent
cases, but also present several more in-depth case studies focusing on the specific facts of the case and how
a City’s policies/practices/training/supervision either positively or negatively impacted those cases. The
goal of this discussion is not only to cover the most recent cases, but to have a practical discussion as to
how municipalities on a day to day basis can manage their police departments in a more legally sound
manner. I will draw on my experience of having worked with the leadership of the Columbus Division of
Police over the past 20 plus years to explain the ways police departments avoid or get in trouble.
PRESENTERS:Jeffrey S. Furbee, Chief Legal Advisor to the Columbus Division of Police
Jeffrey S. Furbee has been an attorney for over twenty-four years. He is currently a Columbus Assistant
City Attorney for City Attorney Zach Klein, and is assigned as Chief Legal Advisor to the Division of
Police. He has served in that capacity for the past fourteen-plus-years. The duties of that assignment are
those of in-house counsel, which means providing 24/7 legal advice/information/guidance and legal
training to the Columbus Division of Police and Division officers. Mr. Furbee’s passion is providing
proactive in-person legal training/information to patrol officers, and believes that the more legal
information officers have the better they will perform. Mr. Furbee is responsible for legal training of
Columbus Police Recruits and of current officers through in-service training and also provides regular legal
information to officers through legal publications, videos, and roll-calls.
Prior to holding his current position, Mr. Furbee served for several years in the City Attorney Civil
Litigation Section where one of his primary responsibilities was representing Columbus Police Officers in
42 U.S.C. § 1983 lawsuits. Mr. Furbee still handles such lawsuits on a limited basis, and takes an active role
in evaluating the City’s police liability. As a litigator, Mr. Furbee achieved important legal victories for the
City of Columbus in cases in various courts such as Thacker v. City of Columbus, 328 F.3d 244 (6th Cir. 2003)
and Fowler v. City of Columbus, 96 CV 003360 (FCCP). Mr. Furbee began his career as an Assistant
Columbus City Prosecutor. In that capacity Mr. Furbee prosecuted a variety of criminal offenses, but
ultimately specialized in the prosecution of Domestic Violence/Abuse cases, for which he received the
Mayor’s Award for Excellence in 1997.
Mr. Furbee holds degrees from Wittenberg University (Bachelor of Arts) & Capital University (Juris
Doctor). He resides in Grandview Heights with his wife Christine and their three children.
Registrants are encouraged to set up for the webinar in a conference room, with a speaker phone and a computer screen, and to invite other city officials to attend. Registrants are encouraged to notify us
of the number of participants attending the webinar (for our records).
Click << HERE >> to download the registration form.
(Please fill out and send via mail your registration along with payment)