COLUMBUS — On Wednesday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, along with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and members of the state legislature, will unveil proposals for police reform.
The briefing is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Watch it live in the media player below:
During Tuesday’s news briefing, DeWine spoke about his time as assistant county prosecuting attorney, and, far too often, he would see police deal with things they weren’t prepared to deal with, adding that in those situations it would have been best if a social worker was present.
DeWine said the call to defund police “makes no sense.”
“We have to have a police force. It’s important that the police force be trained and to be very well trained and to be trained in de-escalation and understand their implicit bias, as some people do have implicit biases that they sometimes don’t know that they have,” he said.
“But it’s also important to figure out how the people that the police are dealing with many times, who have other challenges, other problems, if they’re getting the assistance that they need.”
DeWine's proposals for police reform follow President Trump's signing of an executive order aimed at changing policing practices as weeks-long protests against police brutality continue to take place across the country.
Trump said Tuesday that his order would ban police choke-holds — but stopped short of banning them completely. He said choke-holds would still be permitted if an officer's life is in danger.
The federal order also does not address no-knock warrants or the legal doctrine of "qualified immunity" that currently prohibits officers from being sued in civil court.
