Ohio Law Enforcement and its Academies Propose to Increase Requirements In An Attempt to Increase Public Safety

As a citizen it is important to feel safe and protected within our communities. The idea of law enforcement dates back to as early as the 1800s. According to The National Law Enforcement Museum Insider, “More than 350 years ago, America’s first known system of law enforcement was established in Boston.  As soon as colonists had settled there in 1630, local ordinances had allowed for constables to be appointed.”

As society’s needs have changed over the years in terms of protection the police academies and law enforcement offices have done their best to keep up with the ever-changing needs of their communities. According to the Attorney General’s Advisory Group on Law Enforcement Training Issues Report, released in April of this year, Ohio is one of the first states taking an in-depth look at how its training its officers.

According to the report, “The report recommends that Ohio consider increasing the standards for candidates to be admitted to any basic peace officer training academy to include: a high school GED or equivalent, passing a drug screening, passing a truth verification test, passing a physical fitness test, a psychological evaluation, and adding sex offenses and misdemeanor crimes of violence as disqualifiers.” It also suggests increasing the number of training hours required. Currently, the only requirements are 605 training hours, that the candidate be 18 years of age, and have no felonies that prevent them from carrying a firearm.

According to Lieutenant Michael Lewis for the Kent Police Department an age requirement increase is being proposed as well as more training hours.

“The requirements in the state of Ohio that have gone on for a number of years are that all officers have a GED and be at least 21 years of age.” “My understanding of the proposed changes are  requirements of a high school degree and to remove the cap of 650 for the police academy for the amount of training for officers,’ Lt. Lewis said.

Frankie Colangelo, a newly appointed officer for Timberlake Schools located in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, stresses the importance of staying up-to-date on training and always improving and adding on to one’s skills as an officer.

According to officer Colangelo, “OPPATA is always sending out training classes, today I’m actually taking one that’s called Scenario Desolation so say there was someone that was Special Ed. They don’t train us to handle severly autistic or special ed individuals, for example, so that’s an additional training. It’s another training class that the state is going to give out for free.Officer Colangelo went through 1200 hours of training through the academy which included how to alcohol and drug testing, getting tasered (see video below), instruction on how to approach crime scene investigations, a little over 60 hours at a shooting range, as well as driving simulations on how to operate a police vehicle. As a former Kent State student, he credits his background in Electronic Media Production in knowing how to properly document a crime scene.

Lieutenant Lewis, the department is always in favor for as much education as possible for its officers. According to Lieutenant Lewis, “A 2010 census for the city of Kent revealed that approximately 41 percent of our citizens age 25 or more have a college degree as a police department we want to mirror our community the best we can. That 41 percent, that exceeds, that far exceeds state and national levels.” 

Similar to the training Colangelo completed, Lt. Lewis suggest scenario-based training for officers. Lt. Lewis said, “those are very important trainings. It hones the officer’s ability to make good judgements and good decisions in a split second.”

“I feel like that is a necessity and training is the best thing you could do and just know how to handle every situation that may arise.” Officer Colangelo said. “Each of these classes are a certain amount of hours it varies for each class. It’s very important as a police officer to keep up with your training and maintain a physically fit build as an officer.”

According to a recent Washington Times article, “law enforcement and elected officials told a presidential task force Tuesday that police need better training to improve community relations and defuse the sorts of deadly, racially charged confrontations that have divided the nation for months.”

Lt. Lewis said, “Our actions will be judged with 20/20 hindsight. Monday morning quarterbacking. We need to be as prepared, as educated, and as well trained as we possibly can for these scenarios. [It’s similar to] ‘Monday-morning-quarterbacking.’ We need to be as prepared, as educated, and as well trained as we possibly can for these scenarios. The scenario based training is very important. It’s something we are in favor of if applicants can receive that in the academy as well as on the job that’s excellent.”