With protests over the death of George Floyd and issues of racial inequality continuing throughout the country, including Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine has announced new measures he's taking to address the matter.
At a press briefing in Columbus on Tuesday, DeWine made three announcements regarding the issue, including the following:
- Encouraging the 400+ law enforcement agencies in the state that are not certified in Ohio’s use-of-force and hiring/recruitment standards to begin working on the process of becoming certified. According to DeWine, 79 percent of Ohio’s law enforcement officers work for an agency that is certified - or is in the process of becoming certified -- but the total number of certified agencies is only around half of all of Ohio’s departments.
- Directing the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board to begin developing a new minimum standard on law enforcement’s response to mass protests. Through this standard, DeWine said he wants peaceful demonstrators to feel safe when asserting their First Amendment rights and for the public to be protected against violence and destruction of their property.
- Creating a new Ohio Office of Law Enforcement Recruitment within the Ohio Criminal Justice Services to help local agencies with the recruitment and retention of minorities and women in law enforcement.
DeWine also noted that these marked just the first round of his announcements on the subject and that they were ones that he could make without legislation.
