There’s a provision in the new Ohio budget that mandates the creation of a statewide police use-of-force database. But other work must be done before it’s put into place.
First, the governor’s Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board has to build a set of uniform use-of-force standards.
“Use of force can be verbal commands, ordering someone to do something. Use of force can be use of Tazer or chemical mace. It can be handcuffing,” Ohio Department of Public Safety Director John Born said.
Whatever the group comes up with by September will become the standard statewide. Once all the roughly 1,000 police departments are using the same system, officers will begin tracking their actions.
But it’s not clear how specifically different types of force will be documented. Tasha Mills campaigned for a statewide database with the group Over the Blue Wall. She says her group wants officers to track deadly force only.
“It’s much of a more specific topic to get statistics on and help for people to know exactly what’s going on,” she said.
Mills’ group has support from the Dayton police and city commissioners as well as activist groups like Black Lives Matter.
