DeWine seeks further law enforcement accreditation, standards

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday the creation of a new office for recruiting women and minorities into law enforcement, and is encouraging more agencies to pursue law enforcement accreditation. In 2015, DeWine's predecessor as governor, John Kasich, signed an executive order to create the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board. Since then, it's developed best practices for a variety of law enforcement issues, including use of force, community engagement, dealing with bias in policing and addressing employee misconduct. Law enforcement agencies can voluntarily submit to a process certifying their compliance with those best practices. All told, more than 75 percent of police officers work for accredited agencies, and more than 8.5 million of the state's 11.5 million residents fall under the jurisdiction of a certified agency. In Lorain County, more than 97 percent of the county's 301,000 residents fall under the jurisdiction of a certified agency. But of the 868 law enforcement agencies in the state, only slightly more than half — 438 — are certified. "To be fair, there may be a reason that some of the departments haven't done this," said DeWine, who was attorney general when the board was set up. "It's in the best interests of every chief, every mayor, every city manager to comply with this." DeWine said at this point, certification remains voluntary. He also asked the board to develop new standards on police response to mass protests in light of events of the past two weeks, following demonstrations after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Also, a new Office of Law Enforcement Recruitment will work with the Ohio Mayors Alliance as well as county sheriffs and police chiefs to recruit women and minorities into law enforcement. DeWine addressed calls for defunding police that have arisen on a national level. "That would be absurd," he said. "I can't imagine what people are thinking. We need police. We need fire. We need emergency responders. "But that doesn't mean we don't make changes. There are real problems out there." DeWine also noted that a total of 30 million pieces of personal protective equipment have been distributed throughout the state. Of those, 27.8 million have gone directly to county emergency management agencies for direct distribution. An additional 1.5 million non-medical masks have gone to the Bureau of Workers Compensation to be distributed to employers that participate in the BWC insurance program.