By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s first statewide standard on police use of deadly force counsels officers to consider the high-stakes consequences of pulling the trigger.
Stating “the preservation of human life is of the highest value in the state of Ohio,” the standard says police officers must use deadly force only to protect themselves and others from serious injury or death.
The language was approved Friday by an advisory panel appointed by Gov. John Kasich to improve police and community relations after fatal police shootings of African-Americans, including 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland.
Most police agencies have standards that meet or exceed the state language, but the measure “will raise the bar” for some smaller agencies without deadly force policies, said Ohio Public Safety Director John Born.
Born called the standards “a clear guide to follow” that will “hold everyone accountable and instill better confidence with the public.”
Former State Sen. Nina Turner, D-Cleveland, a co-chair of the advisory panel along with Born hopes the new standard and proposals to come also sensitize police officers to the gravity of their shoot-don’t shoot decisions.
“It should give (communities) great comfort ... we are taking action and they will be protected,” said Turner, the mother of a police officer.
“That is what the community struggles with. Whether or not they understand what is legally allowed, but in their mind they know what is morally right, and we have to bridge the gap between those two,” Turner said.
The Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board later will develop a model policy based on the deadly force standard and explore other topics such as the mandatory use of body cameras to document officers’ actions.
The board also approved standards on the use of non-deadly force — which is restricted to force “reasonably necessary” to make a lawful arrest of a resisting person — and officer recruitment and hiring, which stresses racial diversity.
The standards will take effect on Jan. 1, with police agencies given until March 2017 to comply. The new criteria would be put in place by the Office of Criminal Justice Services, a branch of the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
Oregon Police Chief Michael Navarre, a member of the advisory panel, unsuccessfully sought to amend the deadly force standard to explicitly state that officers could use deadly force to halt a violent fleeing felon.
He was overruled and settled for language incorporating two U.S. Supreme Court rulings controlling police use of force, including one on fleeing felons who pose a serious threat to the public.
Born said the language could be incorporated in the model policy still to be developed and distributed to law enforcement.
The wording stressing the sanctity of human life came from Ronnie Dunn, a professor at Cleveland State University. “We do have to constrain the use of deadly force,” he said.
Ohio Fraternal Order of Police and the Buckeye State Sheriffs’ Association tentatively have endorsed the basic concepts of the standards adopted by the advisory group.
While he still must study the final language, Robert Cornwell, executive director of the sheriffs’ association, said, “We’re already doing this. There may be some smaller agencies that are not.”
The advisory panel also is developing a public-awareness campaign to promote better understanding between police officers and the communities they serve.
The state also is investing $15 million over two years to expand ongoing police training, which another state task force found to be lacking.
Copyright 2015 The Columbus Dispatch