Ohio House Democrats introduced three new pieces of legislation Thursday aimed at reforming police officer conduct in the state.
With the addition of these three new proposals, House Democrats have introduced four pieces of legislation this week that focused on police conduct and procedures. House Bill 706, the first bill the Democrats introduced on Tuesday, focused on implementing more training for state law enforcement.
Ohio House Democrats said these bills “come on the heels of continued peaceful demonstrations across Ohio and the country in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless other Black Americans.”
House Bill 707, which was introduced by Reps. Jessica Miranda (D-Forest Park) and Kristin Boggs (D- Columbus), tries to ban law enforcement’s use of tear gas.
Earlier this month, Ohio Democrats sent a letter to Gov. Mike DeWine asking him to ban tear gas usage. In the letter, Democrats argued that using tear gas should be banned due to potential health effects, the potential for it to spread the coronavirus and because the gas violates people’s civil and human rights.
The next criminal justice reform bill titled House Bill 709, which is sponsored by Reps. Sedrick Denson (D-Cincinnati) and Terrence Upchurch (D-Cleveland), wants to establish a police database for use of force. This bill would require law enforcement agencies to submit a record to a database maintained by the Ohio Attorney General.
Law enforcement would have to submit this type of request to the attorney general if a police officer’s use of force results in death, injury, or when an officer discharges a firearm at or
in the direction of a person.
Finally, House Bill 710, which is also sponsored by Upchurch and Denson, would “prohibit police officers from engaging in biased policing and other status-based profiling and to require the attorney general’s office to establish rules regarding such police practices.”
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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 Police Officers” by Becker1999. CC BY 2.0.
