Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday that he asked Ohio’s Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board (CCPAB) to begin developing uniform minimum standards related to mass protests in an effort to improve community-police relations in the state.
“These new efforts are just the start of our work to improve law enforcement accountability, transparency, training, and minority recruitment,” DeWine said. “We are working with the law enforcement community, elected officials, and community organizations as we continue to move forward.”
Protests have happened across Ohio for nearly two weeks after the death of George Floyd sparked nationwide outrage. A number of things have happened during these protests including people breaking windows and starting fires at the Capitol; Ohio elected officials being pepper-sprayed at a rally; and a 22-year-old dying as a result of tear gas.
“When protests morph from peaceful to violent, law enforcement must be empowered to act, but our peaceful demonstrators must also feel safe when asserting their First Amendment rights,” the governor said. “A statewide standard for law enforcement will be beneficial to help standardize Ohio’s response to large, ongoing protests in the future.”
CCPAB will review the best ways for law enforcement and protesters to interact when crowds won’t disperse. The board will specifically look into when to appropriately use tactics like tear gas, pepper spray and nonlethal projectiles, according to the governor’s press release.
Furthermore, the board will examine when these tactics would be considered “excessive.”
The collaborative board created minimum standards in 2015 for Ohio police officers when it came to the use of force, hiring and recruitment.
According to DeWine’s press release, 79 percent of Ohio’s law enforcement have followed these standards or have almost completed the certification process.
“More than 400 agencies in the state have not chosen to pursue certification showing that they meet these minimum standards,” DeWine said. “Regardless of why these agencies are not certified, I’m calling on them to begin working on this process.”
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected]. Follow Zachery on Twitter @zacheryschmidt2.
Photo “Ohio George Floyd Protests” by Becker1999. CC BY 2.0.
