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Panel will create statewide standards for police use of deadly force
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Gov. John Kasich signed an executive order Wednesday creating a panel that will work to create and implement statewide standards for the use of deadly force by law enforcement.
The new Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board also will develop other policies to improve the relationship between officers and the communities they serve, with an eye toward avoiding the upheaval that has hit other communities after incidents between citizens and police.
Kasich called the advisory board and the expected statewide standards a first nationally, setting Ohio as a model for other states to follow as they determine ways to build trust between citizens and law enforcement.
“It takes training, it takes certain standards to get this done, and my message is nobody’s going to be walking away from this,” Kasich said Wednesday during a news conference at the Statehouse.
“The governor of this state is not going to look the other way. We are going to heal our communities. We are going to get ahead of the curve on what we have seen in other parts of this country. It is not acceptable to have these divisions between our friends in the African-American community and law enforcement,” he said.
The advisory board is the result of the work of a task force created by the governor late last year, not too long after the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a Cleveland police officer called to a city park after a report that the youngster was waving a gun as passers-by. The firearm turned out to be a toy.
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.
Riots hit Baltimore earlier this week after a black man died in police custody.
“In the state of Ohio, we are fortunate that this task force came together not because violence was erupting in our streets, but ... because we wanted to unite and bring our collective energy, our collective knowledge and our collective influence to bear to lift the citizens of the state of Ohio,” said former state Sen. Nina Turner, a Democrat from Cleveland, who served as co-chairwoman of the group. “Governor, we cannot thank you enough for using your executive authority power in the time of peace. Folks across the state of Ohio did protest and they did make their voices heard, but we have been fortunate that we had no incidences of violence.”
The task force had meetings around the state, listening to comments and concerns from residents, law enforcement and others.
Common themes emerged from the sessions.
The governor said many of the recommendations could be implemented via executive order, such as the one he signed Wednesday creating the community-police advisory board.
That panel will have 90 days, once members are appointed, to finalize a statewide use-of-force standard for law enforcement. John Born, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, offered the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s policy as an example — deadly force is used if an officer’s life is in danger or if someone else’s life is in danger.