Niles, Weathersfield police departments adopt state standards for use of force

Staff report

COLUMBUS

The Niles and Weathersfield Township police departments have adopted and implemented state standards established by the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board as part of the state’s efforts to strengthen community and police relations.

They become the fourth and fifth Trumbull County police departments to adopt the standards following Bazetta, Liberty and McDonald.

The standards were designed by a committee whose goal was to strengthen community and police relations after unrest across the country over use of deadly force against citizens by police, especially against black men.

More than 260 agencies employing more than 16,000 officers are either certified or in the process of becoming certified by meeting standards for the use of force, including deadly force, and agency recruitment and hiring, according to a press release. Ohio has about 1,000 law-enforcement agencies.

The standards were developed by the collaborative in August 2015.

Among the chief requirements of the certification is that a department maintains written use-of-force and use-of-deadly-force policies.

They must support Ohio Collaborative principles, indicate when a use-of-force reports will be written and include reviews for policy compliance and annual testing of personnel.