Ohio AG wants tougher officer-training standards

COLUMBUS — Attorney General Mike DeWine has asked the state panel that oversees officer training to adopt further standards to ensure applicants to Ohio’s training academies are qualified to serve.

Drug screening, psychological exams and other pre-certification testing would be a next step in the state’s efforts to ensure officers are adequately trained.

“I believe it is time to make [these standards] uniform across the state of Ohio,” DeWine said during a Tuesday news conference near the Statehouse. “The certificate that says someone is a police officer in the state of Ohio comes from the state of Ohio. Therefore, there should be some uniformity about the requirements that have to be met before someone can become a police officer. We need the best candidates possible to become the next generation of peace officers in the state of Ohio.”

The pre-certification standards were among the recommendations of the Attorney General’s Advisory Group on Law Enforcement Training, formed in response to police shooting incidents in Cleveland and elsewhere in Ohio and other states.