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Group to study police relations
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
A new statewide task force will study community and police relations and offer recommendations for improvements, in light of police-shooting incidents in Cleveland, the Dayton area and elsewhere in the country.
Gov. John Kasich announced the formation of the panel Friday during a press conference at the Statehouse, where he was joined by three Democratic lawmakers and Attorney General Mike DeWine.
“We’re going to make an honest effort to try to bring Ohio together — an honest effort to listen to the frustrations and the challenges of people in the community who need to be listened to,” Kasich said. “Because Ohio cannot afford to be fractured. America cannot afford to be fractured.”
He added later, “This is what must be done now to give folks in the community a sense that somebody is paying attention who’s in authority.”
The task force was announced a day after federal officials issued a report concluding that “Cleveland police engage in a pattern or practice of unreasonable force in violation of the Fourth Amendment.”
And it came less than two weeks after the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a Cleveland police officer called to a city park after a report that someone was waving a gun at passers-by. The firearm turned out to be a replica gun.
The incident and others involving black men in Missouri and New York have sparked protests and, at times, clashes with and vocal criticism of law enforcement.
“We are seeing great frustration, some great division, polarization in parts of our communities throughout the country, and that includes communities in the state of Ohio,” Kasich said. “ This has been excruciatingly difficult time for members of the minority community, particularly the African-American community.”
State Rep. and Sen.-elect Sandra Williams, D-Cleveland, added, “For many people in the African-American community, this has just become too much. We faced these issues in the 1940s, in the 1950s, the ’60s, the ’70s, the ’80s, the ’90s, and now we’re in 2014 and we’re still addressing the same issue. And it has to stop.”
A goal of the task force’s coming meetings and community discussions is to relieve growing tension between residents and law enforcement in minority communities.
“The purpose of this task force isn’t to place blame on either the police or communities of color or anybody else for that matter,” said Sen. Nina Turner, D-Cleveland. “Police and communities are partners, and we need one another, and we have to continue to put forward that message.”