Ohio House introduces police reform bills

COLUMBUS — Ohio lawmakers introduced a pair of bills to explore police reform, including requiring additional training in areas like de-escalation and implicit bias. The bills, if approved, would also establish a funding source for trainings. Ohio House Reps. Erica Crawley, D-Columbus, and Thomas West, D-Canton, introduced House Bill 706 this past week. The bill would require Ohio law enforcement to complete certain types of training, including: • Annual de-escalation training • Annual training about mental health issues, and providing information on mental resources available for officers themselves • Annual training about implicit bias The Ohio attorney general's office would be responsible for developing training curriculums. The bill asks the AG's office to make certain considerations when crafting the curriculum, including the "historical intersection of race and policing, alternatives to the use of physical or deadly force and alternatives to jail booking, arrest or citation in situations where appropriate." "I applaud the legislature's efforts to provide constructive ideas for a stronger law enforcement community," Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. "Better training means better officers, improving how law enforcement protects our communities." The bill would make $28 million available in the state's law enforcement assistance fund to reimburse law enforcement agencies for the costs of training required by the bill. Many local law enforcement leaders have previously voiced support for additional training. The bill follows calls from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for policy changes in law enforcement. Recent calls for change have come following high-profile police killings of Black people, including George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville. Another bill, House Bill 703, was also recently introduced in the Ohio House earlier this month by Reps. Phil Plummer, R-Dayton, and Cindy Abrams, R-Harrison, and aims to "study and implement professional policy practices." The bill covers many proposals of DeWine's, including creating a police officer certificate oversight board, standardizing police discipline process along with a new disciplinary arbitration process and requiring psychological testing for new recruits. Also included in the bill is a section to consider making the recommendations of the Ohio Collaborative Community Police-Advisory Board into law. The Ohio Collaborative establishes optional police policies in areas like use of force and eliminating bias from policing, and many local law enforcement agencies are certified in the Collaborative's policies. House Bill 703 also considers: • Limiting the time for how long a prosecutor can present a case to a grand jury • Reviewing police officers' pay • Streamlining traffic laws Local reaction Erie County's Ohio House Representative, D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron, and Alexis Miller, a Sandusky Democrat challenging Swearingen in this fall's election, both weighed in on police reform in Ohio and on the proposed bills. Swearingen said he supports the majority of law enforcement in Ohio and said the bills address "key issues" of officers' mental health, increased training and community involvement. "We need to continue to focus on making sure that all law enforcement meets the professional standard in the state of Ohio and only qualified candidates are hired," Swearingen said. "I will continue to have conversations with local law enforcement such as Erie and Ottawa County Sheriffs Paul Sigsworth and Stephen Levorchick as well as Sandusky police Chief John Orzech about their needs and best practices." Miller said she supports more training for law enforcement officers but emphasized the need for the state government to provide resources for the police departments completing the training. She also talked about the importance of keeping bad officers from leaving one department only to get hired somewhere else. "If you're a nurse and you consistently make mistakes and it results in people's death ... and if you're fired from one hospital, another hospital can call the state licensing to see if you're on good status," Miller said. "The same isn't necessarily true for police." Miller added she'd like to hear input from both law enforcement and organizations like the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus and the NAACP before supporting either bill. Many local sheriffs and police chiefs have voiced support for law enforcement reforms, including additional training. Milan police Chief Bob Meister said he doesn't believe creating a licensing system is the "be-all, end-all," noting that an Ohio police officer's certificate can be revoked. Currently, a certificate can only be revoked in a limited number of circumstances, like when an officer is convicted of a felony or retires. "Instead of reinventing the wheel, why not make misconduct another avenue to explore in whether or not to pull the certificate?" Meister said. Meister said he would support mandating continuing training for law enforcement officers, but questioned if the state would be able to pay for the costs associated with the training. He added that he thinks there needs to be a "meaningful change in the culture" about people's perception of police. "What I'm most disappointed in after 22 years in civilian law enforcement, law enforcement is being vilified across the board," he said. "It's an unfair assessment to lump those few bad apples into the majority when the majority go out there every single day try to do their best."