COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTVN) -- Bias-free policing is the newest point on which a group of the state's top law enforcement minds are focusing in Columbus.
The head of the Ohio Department of Public Safety and about a dozen other leaders in law enforcement met Friday morning to further flesh-out a set of standards for the state's police departments to consider adopting.
The group, officially-called the Ohio Collaborative - Community-Police Advisory Board, was created by an executive order by Governor John Kasich a couple of years ago.
"We've adopted the seventh standard. It sets Ohio apart. It sets Ohio apart. It is obviously a bias-free policing standard, but embedded within that is a data-collection element out of all traffic contacts," said John Born, Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety. "About eight million people in Ohio are now served by an agency that has adopted these standards."
This, from a press release from the Department of Public safety:
The standards include:
- A prohibition against biased-based profiling in traffic contacts, field contacts, and in asset seizure and forfeiture efforts.
-Traininig all agency enforcement personnel in biased based profiling issues and the relevant legal aspects-Corrective measures if biased based profiling occurs
-The collection of data on all self-initiated traffic contacts to include, at a minimum, the race and gender of the driver of the vehicle stopped. For agencies that employ fewer than 35 sworn full time police officers, the collection of data does not have to occur within the year 2020.
-A documented annual administrative review of agency practices, data collected and citizens' concerns. This review shall be made available to the public.
The group was formed as a result of the officer-involved fatal shootings in Beavercreek, Cleveland, and Ferguson, Missouri.