Board OKs 1st Ohio standards for police use of deadly force

By Marc Kovac

news@vindy.com

COLUMBUS

A state panel appointed by Gov. John Kasich after police shooting incidents in Ohio and nationally signed off on policy statements Friday providing guidelines for officers on the use of force.

The initial minimum standards, adopted by the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board during a session in Columbus, deal with instances when law enforcement could use deadly force to defend themselves or others from serious harm or death.

Additional language seeks to ensure nondiscrimination in police hiring and recruiting.

The action marked the completion of the first state standards for law enforcement, said John Born, director, Ohio Department of Public Safety.

“Fortunately, most agencies in Ohio have standards that either meet or exceed [the new standards],” he added. “But what we’re really after is trying to raise the bar so that those agencies that don’t have these policy statements or those other elements are able to have a good guidepost for where they need to be.”

Former state Sen. Nina Turner of Cleveland, who served as co-chairwoman of the advisory board, said the standards should reassure residents that action is being taken to improve community-police relations.

“It’s the first time in Ohio’s history that any policies have been set that will go out statewide,” she said. “We’re going to have to get out there and make sure the community knows that this has happened and this is a starting point, it’s certainly not the ending point.”

The action Friday also capped a review process launched by Kasich in December, shortly 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 at passers-by. The firearm turned out to be a toy.

The incident and others involving black men elsewhere in Ohio, Missouri and New York have sparked protests and, at times, clashes with and vocal criticism of law enforcement.

Kasich initially created a task force to study community and police relations and offer recommendations for improvements.

That group issued a final report, with hundreds of pages of recommendations in seven broad areas – for example, ensuring agencies and officers are held accountable for their actions, improving community understanding of law-enforcement procedures, and increasing and improving police training.

In April, Kasich signed an executive order creating the advisory board to continue the community-police relations efforts, calling on the new group to work on statewide standards for the use of deadly force by officers.

Minimum standards approved by the board include limiting use of the latter to situations where officers are defending themselves or others from serious physical injury or death. A hiring-and-recruitment standard seeks to ensure the workforces of local law-enforcement agencies reflect the communities they serve.

The new policy statements will be distributed to local police and sheriff’s departments.

Agencies will be asked to adopt the standards and implement training and compliance measures to make sure officers are following them.